A Nuclear Winter
by Rusbuster
Summary: In the year 2033, 20 years after the nuclear war of WW3, Izuku Midoriya is a resident of Polis Station in the Moscow Metro. When he's told to go up to the surface, an ash-blonde will unexpectedly show up and complicate everything. BakuDeku. Yaoi. Metro 2033 AU.
1. Polis Station

**Hello! Welcome to my story in the metro! I have a thing for video game AUs, you see. First off, I'll just clarify a few things here that I think I wasn't able to do so in the story itself;**

 **\- Military Grade Bullets, "Shiny Bullets", or just "Bullets", are the currency of the metro.**

 **\- The non-monetary and only made for shooting type of bullets are called "Dirty bullets"; they're made from repeatedly reused bullet shells, and use gunpowder that's not very good quality.**

 **\- Other stations have taken up ideologies, which created factions such as the Fourth Reich (Nazis), the Red Line (Communists), etc.**

 **\- Bandits and mutant creatures are a common problem.**

 **\- The italicized text before the story itself are Izuku's inner monologues about the chapter. In the game, a monologue occurs every level about the protagonist's thoughts concerning said level and I felt like replicating it to give it a more "Metro" feel; I dunno if it's working, though.**

 **If you have any questions, you can leave a review if you'd like!**

 **Now with that out of the way, enjoy this.. thing.**

* * *

It is the year two-thousand thirty-three, and it has been approximately twenty years since World War Three erupted in two-thousand thirteen, which was a nuclear exchange between all of the nations in the world. Due to the war, which lasted shortly but ended with great effect, a nuclear winter fell all over the world as a result of the sun being blocked out by whatever debris the nuclear exchanges brought up. The exchanges started in the Middle East, then the rest of the world followed, notably the United States and the Russian Federation, who primarily nuked each other to nothingness.

Here, in Russia's capital, Moscow, the metro system served not just as a transportation system, but as a fallout shelter as well in case of a nuclear attack; the depths of most stations and their hermetic doors classified them as such. As the exhanges took place, thousands took to the metro for shelter, but it could only accomodate so much; the unfortunate majority who could not be accommodated had to face the wrath of the nukes.

Now, the shell of former Moscow lies in ruin, coated in snow and radiation. The Dead City, as everyone calls it, is now a shadow of its former self. And if someone dares to venture up to the surface from the metro, if it's not the radiation that kills them, the mutant creatures, a deadly result of the radiation, will do so.

* * *

 _It's just another day in Polis, and I'm getting bored already. Shouto keeps on bringing down many new things from the surface, and I have my hopes up that he'll bring something interesting soon. I've also been hearing from Iida about caravans being attacked by a lone bandit, and that's diminishing my hopes of getting anything new here. If I'm lucky though, perhaps Shouto's latest batch of stuff might have some nice things in them. Mister Kuzmich has also been peppy for the past couple of "days"; I wonder why._

* * *

Izuku Midoriya happened to be one of the not-so-many tourist children that ended up being born in the metro when the bombs fell; in his case, he's of Japanese descent, and was born two years later in Teatralnaya Station, where his parents took refuge. He has not heard of his parents ever since, like most of the tourist children.

Though sometimes he wonders if his parents stayed in Teatralnaya and became communists.

His current home station, Polis Station, composed of Moscow Metro stations Arbatskaya, Alexandrovsky Sad/Alexander Gardens, Biblioteka Im. Lenina/Lenin Library, and Borovitskaya, is regarded as "the last bastion of humanity" since here, prewar knowledge such as the sciences, the arts, and so on, are preserved. Said knowledge finds little tp no significance to the other stations in the metro, who have put their own survival first over the preservation of cultural artifacts, so Polis took it upon themselves to do so. This mega station's white marble walls, ornate, bright chandeliers, and grand, Soviet sculptures allude to the prosperity and power of the people who were able to take shelter here, which are mostly government officials, businessmen, scientists, and teachers. The station is so revered for its purpose that no one dares to attack it.

The station also happened to have a caste system, and having just turned eighteen, Midoriya had to choose one of four castes to base his future on; The Shudra, the station's servants. The Vashiya, the station's merchants. The Kshatriya, the station's standing army. And the Brahmin, the station's preservers of prewar culture and knowledge; Midoriya chose being a Brahmin, since knowledge suited him well compared to serving, selling, or shooting.

As his everyday routine, he's goes to his workspace at Arbatskaya, and for the day, he's tasked with sorting out the new arrivals of prewar books that the Stalkers have brought down from the surface; his workspace is nothing too fancy, just a wooden desk with the occasional papers and pencils strewn about, and a clipboard where he's tasked to catalog his findings.

Midoriya sometimes thinks of being a Stalker; brave individuals that scour the surface for materials that the metro may find useful, whether they are pre-war books, weapons, or spare parts, and bring them back. The daredevils are commonly praised as selfless heroes for their actions, and can even earn a good living out of it. The life of a Stalker, however, has a high risk of death due to the radiation and the mutants on the surface; Midoriya also tends to be a bad shot, so he puts the thought away for another time. The thrill of adventure and exploration calls to him at times, however.

Midoriya snapped out of his daydreaming as he saw his job on the floor; a cardboard box full of books. He brought the box up his desk, and tied off the rope that held it together. On opening it, he was awestruck; the box was full of prewar comic books, most of them being superhero comics. A certain comic book struck his eye however, a red and yellow one of the All Might series, yet it was in Russian; his Russian sucked since he was taught more of English and his native Japanese by the local foreign community that he was raised in. He could have someone translate it for him later, so he set it aside, yet giddy at the prospect of reading the newfound treasure.

Then a buzz from the intercom beside him startled the boy."Hey, Midoriya! How's the sorting going? Kuzmich wants the catalog ASAP!" a female voice sounded from the wall-mounted intercom beside Izuku's desk, startling the latter. Izuku pressed the red button on the intercom, and spoke. "I just got here, Uraraka. At least let me start." he replied wearily.

"Alright, alright. At least they're not having you lift up junk. It's nice to help and all but I don't want to get sick again." his friend Uraraka said back among the background noise of machinery on her end. "Just get to cataloguing the stuff. Comic books, amirite? You love that stuff a lot." she added.

"Yeah, I do. Just, take care, Uraraka." Midoriya then let go of the intercom's transmission button and looked at the All Might comic book to the side, smiling. "You too Midoriya." Uraraka replied seconds earlier. As soon as he's done gawking at the comic book, he started bringing out each book one by one, and wrote down their titles and authors on the clipboards. Izuku counted about fifty books, and he sighed at the long day ahead of him.

 _At least I have something to look forward to tomorrow._

* * *

The following "day", which Midoriya thinks is the next day since timekeeping became irrelevant in the metro, he stayed around his room in Borovitskaya and read his translated All Might comic. Being a quirkless person, he found himself lucky that he could even have a room whereas most of the people lived in tents, ramshackle housing built along the pylons, or nowhere. He even has a position in the Brahmins to boot, whereas most quirkless persons found themselves kicked out of the station or served as something even lower than the Shudras. He had been very busy proving himself that even a quirkless person like himself can find some purpose in the metro, which bore fruits. Midoriya also found a few friends along the way;

Ochaco Uraraka; a Shudra whose gravity quirk found good use in the construction and fortification projects in Polis. Uraraka helped Midoriya with some crates that needed offloading on the platforms and they kicked it off from there.

Tenya Iida; a Vashiya whose speed quirk found use in distributing materials across the station, and also for procuring materials to sell. Iida was impressed with Midoriya's perceptiveness and intelligence and that's when they started interacting.

Eijirou Kirishima; a Ranger of The Order who is occasionally stationed at Polis if not called to duty somewhere. His hardening quirk found great use as a barrier against the mutants, bandits, Nazis, and Reds of the metro. Kirishima constantly greeted Midoriya on his way to work, so he thought of making small talk with the friendly ranger and they became friends.

"Shouto"; another Kshatriya who is a Stalker that frequently made trips to the surface. His fire-and-ice quirk is a force to be reckoned with by people and mutants, with said mutants avoiding him entirely thanks to it. Midoriya is the one who calls in and accepts Shouto's deliveries, which familiarized the two with each other. The stalker was quiet and stoic at first but thanks to Midoriya's persistence and him being the generally nice person he is, Shouto started talking to him. Midoriya never got to see his face however, since he's always wearing a gas mask.

Suddenly, heavy knocks sounded on his door, breaking his attention from the comic book and his thoughts with a little yelp. "Midoriya. Mister Kuzmich wants to see you 'ne-med-len-no' as he puts it." A voice spoke from the other side, which was Iida's. Midoriya calmed down at that, and was thankful that it wasn't the rent guy. "Okay Iida! Just a second!" Midoriya put the comic away gently and fixed his clothes, a simple white t-shirt with a green jacket, a pair of rather overused jeans, and red sneakers that Shouto found inside a house in the surface and gave to him as a gift.

Midoriya exited his room and locked it with his key, and met up with his bespectacled friend who stood near the railing. Once Midoriya got close, Iida started walking and the curly haired boy followed. "Hello to you too Iida." Midoriya said as he walked alongside Iida, making their way through the crowded hallways to get to Kuzmich, their boss, at Borovitskaya. "Did he say why he wanted to see me?" Midoriya asked Iida as they now made their way down Arbatskaya's non-functioning escalator to Borovitskaya. "Mister Kuzmich said that he has a task for you that should be told in person." Iida replied robotically, to which Midoriya has gotten used to. "If you say so."

Once the two got down to Arbatskaya, they spotted Kirishima talking with another blonde ranger who has an odd black streak on his hair. Midoriya waved at the redheaded ranger, and he momentarily tore his attention from his fellow ranger, waved back at Midoriya with a smile, then went back to talking with his comrade. Iida noticed. "Ah, you know Kirishima as well? Good fellow. Skilled in combat as well." the bespectacled man stated. Midoriya nodded. "Mmhmm. He's very nice, but I haven't seen him fight, though." Iida responded with an "ah" and they went down another flight of escalators to reach the platform.

Once down at Borovitskaya's platform, they met up with Kuzmich, a gruff and bearded man who looked like he drank too much vodka everyday and lived. Midoriya had his share of mean bosses but he's so grateful that Kuzmich isn't one of them. "Ah, there you are, boy." he turned his attention to Iida. "Spasibo, Tenya. You may go." Iida bowed quickly and walked back up the escalators.

Midoriya stood in front of Kuzmich, and he rubbed the back of his neck out of nervousness. "What is it, sir?" the man went up to a crate and started fishing for something out of it. "You see, Izuku, I need you to go up to surface and validate some-" Kuzmich was cut off by a startled yelp from Izuku, who was eyes wide. "M-me?! Surface?! T-this is too s-soon! I won't l-live long up there! I-" On realizing that he's suddenly rambling quite frantically, he shuts himself up, covering his mouth with his hands. A few seconds pass before Kuzmich spoke again. "Allow me to finish. Up there is Lenin Library, and people say there is vaulted room there with documents about secret bunkers with many useful things! I need you to go there and validate. One has sent me document from there as proof but it is about sleep experiments. Gah! Useless. I do believe there are good documents there. You can validate, yes? You analyzed military documents with Bourbon before, no?" With his eyes still wide, Midoriya nodded with much fervor, and pouted a little at the memory of Bourbon.

 _More like he made me analyze and do his work for nothing. I don't like him. What kind of name is Bourbon anyway?_

The sound of Kuzmich clapping his hands once snapped Midoriya out of his thoughts. "Wonderful! You leave tomorrow!" then Kuzmich finally manages to fish out whatever it was he was getting; a bottle of mushroom vodka.

Midoriya, however, was not leaving without any further information, let alone a companion for tomorrow. "I can't go without an escort! I'll die! I-I know it! What am I even getting m-myself into there?!" Midoriya exclaimed not-too-loudly at Kuzmich, who was downing the bottle already and looked dizzy. "Ah? Ah, right. Of course. I will ask ranger or stalker to help you. But tomorrow! Info tomorrow too! Go now." Then the man shooed him away and he drank from the bottle again, tipping it all the way down to his mouth, then he started blabbering nonsensical Russian shortly afterwards.

Midoriya began walking back to his room, leaving Kuzmich and some technicians alone to his rambling. Once he's up Arbatskaya's escalator, he spots Kirishima again, this time just standing around and gripping at his Kalashnikov; the blonde ranger was not with him.

 _I don't think Mister Kuzmich will remember to ask. I'll just ask for myself, as usual._

He sighed at his flashbacks of the drunk old man. The man is nice, but rather too carefree at times, so most of the time Midoriya had to take matters into his own hands. And so he approached the redheaded ranger, who recognized him immediately; there was only one person with curly green hair and red sneakers in Polis. "Oh hey there Midoriya. How are you?" Kirishima asked Midoriya cheerfully. He noticed Midoriya's distraught expression immediately, and sought to pat him. "What's up?"

Midoriya started fidgeting with his fingers, nervous. "Well, Kirishima, my uh.. boss told me that I have to go up to t-the.." he gulped down a heavy lump on his throat, which seemed to worry Kirishima. "..S-surface."

The two stayed silent for a few seconds until Kirishima's laughter started to resound all over Arbatskaya Station, which earned him a few onlookers. Midoriya could not believe that Kirishima was laughing at his predicament. "W-wow! You actually got me worried there for a second! Haha!" Midoriya continued looking at him in disbelief. "W-why are you laughing?! It's the surface! Y-you should be worried!" the curly haired boy exclaimed loudly, which earned the two more annoyed onlookers.

Kirishima patted Midoriya on his back to ease him up. "Sorry, sorry! I'm a ranger, Midoriya. I ain't scared of the surface." Midoriya continued looking at him with shocked, wide eyes. "Alright, alright. What about it?" Kirishima asked, no longer laughing. Midoriya went to clear his throat with a cough, and started speaking. "Can you accompany me up there? I'm supposed to go to this place called the Lenin Library." Kirishima looked contemplative. "I-I'll pay you eighty bullets!"

Kirishima was struck out of his thoughts by Midoriya's statement. He was about to say something until he saw the curly haired boy's wide, pleading eyes, reminiscent of puppy dog eyes. "Please?" Midoriya pleaded; Kirishima stared at the boy's pleading eyes, and wanted to say yes at that, but his commander won't be so happy with him doing things without his permission first. Still, the redheaded ranger could not handle the cuteness. "Look, I gotta check with Colonel Melnik first. If I can, I'll go with you, alright buddy?"

Midoriya smiled at Kirishima. "Okay." the ranger then patted the curly haired boy on his head, practically ruffling his hair. Then Kirishima's radio piped up. "Hey, Kiri. The colonel wants to see you. Like, now." a voice spoke from the radio. "Would'ya look at that, hehe." Kirishima grinned at Midoriya, then he spoke back on his radio. "Nice timing, Kami! Alright, I'll be there ASAP!" he replied.

The other voice sighed. "Alright bro. Later." the radio cut off afterwards. Kirishima playfully punched Midoriya on his shoulder as the other continued looking at him. "Okay, I gotta run! See ya tomorrow, Midoriya!" And with that, Kirishima jogged away. Midoriya sighed in relief and continued his way back to his room, passing through a crowd that were observing the proceedings of the Polis Council. Back in his room, he opened his safe, where he realized that he only has fifty bullets, and his next payment wasn't due until the next batch of catalogued books; he started cold sweating.

 _How am I gonna pay Kirishima?!_

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! This and the next chapter have nothing shippy yet, though; just atmosphere setting-up. Katsuki will appear in Chapter 3, if that's any consolation.**


	2. Biblioteka Im Lenina

**Welcome to the second chapter!**

* * *

 _I'm gonna head up to the surface today! I'm both excited and scared. I mean, I'd like to see what the surface is, but I'm not looking forward to having my face clawed off by mutants, or getting kidnapped by bandits. But Kirishima's going with me, I don't have to be scared! He's strong and spirited, I'll get through this!_

 _Which brings me back to bullets.. how am I gonna pay him?_

"Bullets!"

Midoriya shouted then he jolted up from his makeshift mattress. The boy had a nightmare about the lack of payment to Kirishima since he made such a big deal out of it. On seeing his familiar surroundings, which is his room full of salvaged All Might posters and Japanese postcards, he calmed down. "Breath, Izuku. Breath. It's just a nightmare.."

Two light knocks on his door interrupted his mantra, which startled him for the second time. "Hey, Midoriya? You awake?" It was Kirishima, which served to fuel Midoriya's anxiety even more. "U-uh-Yes! Y-yes I am! Haha!" the curly haired boy exclaimed nervously. "Oh, okay. Just dropping by to tell you that I can go with you 'up there', okay? I'll wait for you at Lenin Station's door. No rush, though! Take your time preparing, I can wait." the ranger stated and waited for a reply, which came after a few seconds later. "O-okay! Yes! Da!" Midoriya exclaimed nervously again.

Kirishima looked worried. "Uhh, okay. I hope you didn't eat another bad mushroom again." and with that, the sound of Kirishima's gear and heavy footsteps signaled to Midoriya that he's walking away, which calmed him down. He inhaled and exhaled repeatedly until his nerves calmed down.

 _One.. two.. three.. I can do this!_

Midoriya fixed his shirt and pants then he put on his jacket and red sneakers. Once his clothes were set, he grabbed the fifty bullets in his safe then he headed out of his room and locked it. Once outside, he started walking to Lenin Library Station. On the way, he heard loud chatter from a corner along with some people speaking over a loudspeaker. Turning the corner, he discovers a crowd of people congregated along the general area of the Polis Council chamber room, who were discussing some sort of treaty between the Nazis and the Reds. "Excuse me. Coming through. Uh, izvinite.." he mumbled as he made his way through the crowd. Once he's out of there, he took a breather and continued on his way to the escalators leading to Lenin Library Station.

Along the way, he sees Uraraka going down the steps with a box, and she notices him. "I heard you're going up to the surface! Cool!" she exclaimed at him, making Midoriya flinch at the sudden rise in volume. "I won't take long. And if I can, I'll get some stuff for you, Iida, maybe Shouto too." Midoriya said with a smile. Uraraka gave him a one-armed hug from the other side of the escalator, startling him. "Aww! You're very thoughtful! But only when you can, okay? Focus on your mission first." the curly haired boy nodded, then Uraraka smiled back. "I'm gonna tell Iida, and I'm sure he'll be supportive! Well anyway, I gotta get going, good luck Midoriya!" she added hastily, going down the rapid flight of escalator steps. Midoriya sheepishly waved back and continued going up the steps.

Once he's at the top of the escalator, he sees a mosaic of a person's face, most likely the Lenin person the station and library were named after; Midoriya never went to Lenin Library Station since it was mostly for Kshatriyas. After ascending the escalator and a small flight of stairs, he sees a huge, red hermetic door, and in front of it was Kirishima, the blonde ranger, and Kuzmich, who were discussing something it seems. He slowly made his to the group, panting heavily and bending down on his legs. "I-I'm here.. hah.."

Kuzmich clasped his hands together in delight, while Kirishima waved at him and the blonde ranger just stared at Midoriya. "Izuku! I see you have made arrangements, yes?" the old man said cheerfully, referring to Kirishima, which brought the curly haired boy back to his thoughts about bullets and paying the redhead. "U-uhh.. yeah, about that.." he fidgeted with his fingers, nervous. Kuzmich patted Midoriya on his head. "Is about their payment? Do not worry, I have paid. I will deduct from your salary once you bring back documents."

 _Must be my lucky day.. I think._

Midoriya felt relief wash over him in an instant as he no longer has to worry about paying Kirishima. He wonders if he plans to bring the blonde ranger with him, though. Both rangers were heavily decked out in gear, armor, ammo, and weaponry, though Kirishima lacked any armor since he has his quirk. That reminded Midoriya something.

 _I don't have any gear.. how stupid of me._

Once Midoriya was done collecting his thoughts, which went from gear to how the blonde ranger's uniform is blue while Kirishima's is red, Kuzmich was already walking away and that Kirishima was patting him on his shoulder. "Metro to Midoriya? You okay?" the curly haired boy nodded vigorously. "Hey, you gotta get some gear from the armoury, bro. You won't be able to defend yourself up there let alone breath." Kirishima finished with a chuckle and pointed towards a sign with a drawing of an AK. "Just follow that sign. The guy there is Japanese like us. He's my friend too, so don't worry." Midoriya looked sheepishly at Kirishima, then nodded with a smile. "Okay. Thank you."

Kirishima smiled back and he let the curly haired boy go off to the armory; he and his blonde comrade started talking about him though. Midoriya made his way past some older rangers who were discussing something over vodka. He followed the sign, which led to an open red door, where he slowly went inside. "I-is this the armoury?" he asked the person behind the counter, which was decked with all kinds of guns and ammo. The place looked dirty and smelled of metal and gunpoweder.

The guy snickered. "Nah, it's the restaurant." Midoriya froze and slowly inched away from the door. "S-sorry! Where is the-" the curly haired boy was cut off in his speech by the guy's laughter. "Just kidding! Jeez. Yeah, this is the armoury, hehe." he waved at him, still snickering. Midoriya inched back inside, then shut the door behind him. He walked to the counter, and looked at the armourer, who's wearing a white tank top and some ranger cargo pants, and he looked as buff and as old as Kirishima but has silver hair; he seemed to exhibit similar qualities to the redheaded ranger.

"You're the guy Mister Kuzmich told me about, right?" he asked, to which Midoriya nodded sheepishly. The armourer then went to get stuff from the bottom of the counter. As he found whatever it was, he placed it on the top of the counter.

The first thing he brought up was an orange case with a red cross on it, then he opened the lid, showing about five little syringes. "For when you get hurt. Just inject one of these to yourself and you'll be good. I dunno how it works, but it works. That's the Russians for you, haha!" he explained, then Midoriya took the case and pocketed it.

"Umm.. what's your name, if that's okay?" Midoriya asked as the armourer went to getting more stuff from under the counter. He peeked up at Midoriya for a second, then went back to locating the stuff. "You can call me Tetsutetsu. You're Midoriya, right?" he asked, then he brought up a green, full-face gas mask and some spherical objects; its filters. Midoriya nodded at his question, and stared at the objects.

"Here's your gasmask. Those are your filters. Just screw the filters in this hole on the gasmask, and you're good." Tetsutetsu demonstrated by picking up a filter and screwing it to the front of the gasmask, which then stuck to it. "Every filter is good for like, twenty minutes, so remember to time it and switch filters on time. Otherwise you'll be breathing radioactive air, and that's it for you." Midoriya gulped a heavy lumped in his throat since he's getting increasingly nervous with Tetsutetsu's jokes. He grabbed the gasmask and had it hang on his side then he pocketed the filters.

Tetsutetsu brought up an olive green military backpack, and patted it. "For whatever you have to bring down." then he grabbed a nearby gun on the rack; it looked put together, and had its magazine on the side, which entirely showed thirty dirty bullets. Tetsutetsu also placed some pouches full of more dirty bullets beside the gun. "They call it the 'Bastard' gun since it tends to jam and overheat, but anything's better than having to fight mutants or bandits with your bare hands, right? Oh, and here are your 'dirty' bullets as we call them; repeatedly reused shells with kinda crappy gunpowder, but at least they work. You can use your 'shiny' bullets too, but eh.. you'll be shooting money, hehe. You're better off buying an entire magazine of dirtys with one shiny." Tetsutetsu explained, to which Midoriya appeared to be deep in processing his information, continuosly mumbling to himself. "Hey, you okay?"

Midoriya mumbled an "M'fine." and Tetsutetsu seemed fine with that. "Wait a sec! Before I forget.." the silver haired armorer went to another side of the counter, which was facing a workshop. "Hey, Hatsume! How's the watch going?" he asked some person on the other side. Then a girl about their agae popped up in front of Tetsutetsu, holding out a watch to his face. "I've just finished it! It's got a lot of nifty stuff in here that your friend can make use of!" she handed it to Tetsutetsu, then looked at Midoriya. "You got that from Hatsume Mei! The best technician in all of the metro!" she momentarily said to Midoriya before going back to the workshop.

Tetsutetsu sighed as he scrutinized the watch, then he went to Midoriya "She's a bit eccentric but eh, she's okay. Anyway, I dunno what other things this thing could do for you apart from timing your filters but well, here you go. I guess go and discover what it can do?" Tetsutetsu transfered the watch to Midoriya's hand, to which the latter flipped and rotated the device around, examining it. "Oh, and inside your backpack is a crank charger and a flashlight. That should come in handy for you." the armorer added.

Midoriya put on the watch on his left wrist and continued examining it; nothing happened. Humming, he pocketed the dirty bullets and grabbed the not-too-heavy gun by its handguard. "Kuzmich payed for that by the way, so you're good." Tetsutetsu added, to which Midoriya responded with an "ah".

Midoriya slung the backpack over his shoulders and adjusted a few straps. Just before he headed out of the armoury, he stopped at the door. "Thank you Tetsutetsu." Midoriya said to Tetsutetsu as he paused in front of the door. "No prob. Good luck, man!" the armorer waved at him, then the curly haired boy exited the armoury and shut the red door behind him.

Midoriya went back to Kirishima and his comrade, who were laughing over something; they appeared to be best friends. He stopped in front of the pair with all of his gear. "I'm ready." Midoriya clutched at his backpack and gripped his Bastard gun. "Ah, great! Before we go though, I wanna introduce you to my buddy here who's coming with us; Kaminari Denki, my best bro." he patted his comrade, who responded with a wave. "Hey." Midoriya bowed a little at him. "Hello."

"Kaminari here is a good guy, and Midoriya is like the embodiment of kindness. You'll both get along!" Kirishima stated, then he went over to one of the Polis guards to have a word, then he went back to their group immediately. "Okay, you two. Get ready!" the redhead told his two companions as he put on his signature ranger steel helmet with a built-in gasmask. Kaminari put on his gasmask as well, which was like Kirishima's but it was black and had a little yellow lightning bolt on the side.

Meanwhile, Midoriya was having trouble putting on his gasmask, having trouble with the straps. "U-um.. how do I put this on? I forgot to ask Tetsutetsu.." he stated sheepishly. "Here." Kaminari took the gasmask from him and showed him an opening in the straps below, then he put it on Midoriya with a pat. "There ya go!"

Shortly, two red lights started flashing beside the hermetic door, then mechanical whirring noises followed. Polis guards started to gather around the door as well. "Vnimanie! Dveri otkrivayutsa!" a Polis guard yelled as two other Polis guards took positions behind the door, their Kalashnikovs with laser sights aimed straight at the door. "He said that the doors are opening." Kaminari told an uneasy looking Midoriya.

A moment later, the mechanical whirring noises became louder, then the red hermetic door started moving, its bottom and top halves moving in their respective direction to get out of the way. After thirty seconds, the whirring stopped, and the door was fully open, showing derelict escalator steps laden with frost; the cold of the outside can be felt rushing into the station, making Midoriya shiver a little. "Vkhod yasno! Davay!" a Polis guard yelled while waving at the trio to get going.

"He says it's clear. Let's go!" Kirishima went first to take point, jogging towards and up the steps of the escalator with his rifle at the ready. Kaminari and Midoriya went behind him, with the latter lagging a little due to the pressure he's experiencing; Kaminari had to assist him up towards the steps because of it. Once they're all outside and going up the derelict escalator steps, the door started closing again, its mechanical noise being less evident as they went further upwards.

Once they've nearly reached the surface inside the former station's building, Midoriya had to block his face from the sun that attacked his eyes through the windows; Polis Station's lights may have been bright, but the sun was brighter than any metro lighting. Kirishima took point again, with Kaminari following behind him since Midoriya went to sit down at a nearby desk. He started hyperventilating.

 _I'm outside! I can't believe I'm outside! It's so cold! So bright! So-_

"Metro to Midoriya! C'mon, let's go!" Kirishima shook the other boy to snap him out of his thoughts, which did work. The redheaded ranger assisted the curly haired boy to stand up and they walked towards a broken window, which showed the decaying, concrete facade of Lenin Library which was laden with snow, frost, and a few trees. Kirishima pointed at the building, to which Midoriya gawked at. Kaminari was examining the immediate vicinity for threats with his binoculars, namely mutants.

"Welcome to Lenin Library, Midoriya. Welcome to the Dead City. This is gonna be a fun day!"

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Katsuki appears in the next chapter!**


	3. Lenin Library-Moscow State Library

**Y'all have been waiting for Bakugou? He pops up in this chapter!**

* * *

 _I'm up in the surface, and it's so cold! And I'm seeing the famed Lenin Library too! I heard that the station and the library was named after this Lenin guy that rebuilt the "old country" after a revolution. I don't know anything about the "old country" or that revolution, but the guy sounded very important in their history. Anyway, I'm about to go inside with Kirishima and Kaminari, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. But I'm sure they'd protect me! And I have this Bastard gun! Funny name. I wonder what's inside the library that's more than just books.._

* * *

The trio, composed of Kirishima, Kaminari, and Midoriya, have started walking towards the Lenin Library, shrugging off the cold and snow that fell on their faces. Midoriya, not used to the phenomena, was more than nerve-wracked, but equally excited. "So this is snow! It's beautiful!" the curly haired boy said as he looked at a pile of snow that accumulated on top of a rusting car.

Kaminari chuckled. "Just don't try licking it. It's radioactive, y'know?" he joked, which made Midoriya flinch away from the cold substance. Continuing their way to the library, they had to pass by a former street which is now a cold stream of water thanks to the pipelines bursting; the only remnants of the street were a bunch of Moscow's triple-headed streetlamps and an entire line of rusty cars that bunched up in the street; their former occupants were those that were desperate to get out of the city during the day of the bombs. Some cars still had skeletal remains in them, creeping out Midoriya.

After passing through the stream by a bridge made from conveniently positioned cars, the trio trekked through the side of the library, being wary of any falling debris. On getting to the courtyard, Kirishima spent some time trying to open the jammed double doors, while Midoriya gawked at a snow-laden and heavily damaged statue in the middle of the courtyard.

 _Maybe it's that Lenin guy again? I wonder why he has so much significance.._

The sound of something breaking brought Midoriya out of his thoughts, and on looking, Kirishima was able to open the heavy double doors of the library, with said ranger waving at Kaminari and Midoriya to get inside already. "C'mon! You don't wanna be Demon food, now do ya?"

Petrified at the word, Midoriya immediately broke into a sprint and went through the doors, leaving Kaminari; said ranger laughed and walked inside soon afterwards, punching Kirishima on his shoulder playfully. "You don't have to scare him, y'know? Besides, you might jinx us."

Midoriya was having none of it. "Demons?! D-Demons?! I dunno what they are but they sound like something that could kill me easily!" Kirishima went to comfort the curly haired boy by rubbing circles on his back. "Sorry man, but sometimes a Demon comes in here; flying, mutant giants with sharp teeth and talons. Can kill a Librarian too." the redheaded ranger explained while mimicking talons with his hands and a mock roar.

Midoriya looked scared again. "W-what's a Librarian?" he asked. "Oh uh, they're the mutants that roam the library. Very strong, big, and can rip a regular person in half with just their arms." Kirishima explained to Midoriya as Kaminari went to closing the doors they went through.

The curly haired boy lost it. "Why did nobody tell me this before?! As if the surface is s-scary enough, there are scarier mutants here?! That can rip me in half?! This is-" Kirishima shushed him with a hand to his mouth. "Shh! No need to yell. Besides, me and Kaminari are here to protect you, okay?" Midoriya furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips, then nodded at Kirishima.

Somewhat guilty, the redheaded ranger activated his quirk in front of Midoriya in an attempt to reassure him. "Hey man, see this? A Nosalis wasn't able to bite through this. A heavy-caliber machine gun can't pierce this too. What I'm trying to say is that there's no need to worry! We have your back! Kaminari can also electrocute them, and that's usually enough to shoo a mutant away." the redheaded ranger then gave Midoriya a hug to further calm him down, and judging by the curly haired boy's evened breathing, it worked. Kaminari fist bumped Midoriya's shoulder as well.

"Electricity is your quirk?" Midoriya asked the blonde ranger out of curiousity, who nodded. "Yep. Though to electrocute someone, I have to touch them. But that's what this baby is for." he motioned at his currently held gun; it looks nothing like a Kalashnikov, and seemed to have numerous non-gun looking parts and a battery. "I had Hatsume make this for me. It was a railgun, and she changed it to a 'lightning zapper' as I call it. All I gotta do is touch it to charge it, so it's technically infinite ammo! Pretty neat, right?"

Midoriya scrutinized the gun, and nodded. "Yeah! Does Hatsume do that? Make stuff to use with someone's quirk?" the curly haired boy asked. "Ah, yeah! That's what she usually does. Her stuff are expensive too. My zapper costed two-hundred bullets. Man, I had to diet on mushrooms for months just to save that much but hey, it's worth it!"

With what Kaminari said, Midoriya looked at his watch again, wondering what else it could do than tell time. For one, it can't be quirk related since he's quirkless.

 _Yeah, quirkless.._

Kirishima's incessant patting on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. "Metro to Midoriya for the upteenth time! We gotta get going now, bro!" Midoriya shook his head and stood up since he was previously sitting on the floor. He dusted off some snow on his pants and the trio started walking on the hallways.

The entrance hall of the library is huge, and the walls and pylons appeared to be made of marble with some gold-colored trimming, along with a golden chandelier hanging on top of the room; that was vague assumption since the entire place looked aged and damaged, the walls themselves appearing grey instead of white, and the gold looked desaturated. They walked on a staircase situated in the middle of the room, and Midoriya noticed some weird vines hanging on the ceiling of the second floor, but conviently nowhere near the main pathway.

"Uh, don't go near them. Those sentient buggers stab anything near them." Kaminari told Midoriya, keeping his hand on the Brahmin to not stray off. As they've said, one of the vines stabbed a stray rat, cutting it in half, squicking Midoriya. "Yeah, I won't."

Once they're on the second floor, they momentarily stopped at an archives room just before the main hall of the library. Midoriya examined the books on the shelves, looking frosted over but they appeared to be in good condition. Kaminari started stuffing some books into his bag for a hefty payday. "Ooh, Roadside Picnic. Sero might like this." the blonde commented then stuffed said book onto his backpack.

Once the group was done looking for and getting books, except Midoriya since he's supposed to get documents, the group departed the small archives and proceeded towards the massive main reading hall of the library; numerous desks lie scattered about, and two massive chandeliers hung over the ceiling. Most of the bookshelves here have been emptied out by previous Stalkers already, and one notable feature here is a huge hole in the roof, letting snow accumulate on the floor below it.

Not wasting time, and since it's risky to be in an open space, the trio hoofed it quickly towards the other side, and found themselves in a narrow hallway. After rushing through said hallway, they came across a pair of stairs leading to a burnt-out section of the library. As they crept closer to that part, sounds of ragged and loud breathing became more relevant, which were accompanied by low growls.

Midoriya's blood ran cold.

"Librarians. Stay out of their sight, and if they catch you, don't attack or run. Just stare at it right in its eyes, and don't look away. If you can do that, they'll back off for the time being. Just don't turn your back on them, okay Midoriya?" the curly haired boy nodded, but his ragged breathing told the two that he's not calm.

The group slowly ascended the stairs, and saw the Librarian; it's huge, in terms of size and height, it looked reminiscent of apes, and has a pair of really strong looking arms. Its skin is grey, and has black fur on most parts of its body. The creature was facing the window and growled at something, then it started moving to the side slowly, using its feet and arms to move. "Look, there's an elevator shaft there. The documents archive is in the basement, and that's where we're going. We just have to be quiet, and it won't spot us." Kirishima pointed at said elevator shaft on the far left side of the room. Conveniently as they tiptoed past it, the creature jumped into a hole in the ceiling that led to the second floor, and the coast was clear to the elevator shaft.

Kirishima took point as always, and used hand motions to signal the group. Kaminari stayed beside Midoriya to keep him calm, and slowly they tiptoed towards the elevator shaft. Once they're in front of it, Kirishima slid inside the vacant space between the shaft and the elevator itself. Once he's down, the sound of his boots hitting metal saying so, Kaminari guided Midoriya through the spacing, but he slipped and fell with a yelp, luckily getting caught by Kirishima before he hit the ground.

After mumbling his thanks to the ranger, Kaminari followed with ease, and he dropped down to the floor like a ninja. With the basement being a darker area due to the lack of windows and turned off lights, Kirishima and Kaminari activated their nightvision goggles, placing them over their eyes and letting them see in the dark. Unfortunately for Midoriya, he doesn't have one and he can't use his flashlight lest he alert the creatures to their presence, so he resorts to keeping both of his hands firmly attached to Kaminari's shoulders.

They slowly make their way through the dusty and dark basement, the rangers slowly avoiding piles of shattered glass to not alert the Librarian in the middle of the room, sleeping and snoring loudly. Once they're on the far end of the room, Kirishima jiggles the handle of a red door, and it opens noiselessly, to their relief. The trio quickly made their way inside, and fortunately for them, it's just a narrow corridor without any Librarians. They closed the door behind them, and they rested here for a bit. Kaminari used the time to calm down and reassure a shaking Midoriya, who was constantly muttering "I'm gonna die" numerous times; the blonde had to shake the curly haired boy to snap him out of his pessimistic mantra. Kirishima, on the other hand, started reading a map he has of the library.

"Okay, you two. There seems to be a shortcut to the military archives through this hallway, and from what I'm seeing, it looks safe. I don't think any Librarian can fit in here anyway, but be ready for anything." the redheaded ranger closed the map and pocketed it, then he clutched at his Kalashnikov and took point again, motioning for Kaminari to start following him. The blonde ranger helped up a squatting Midoriya and placed the curly haired boy's hands on his shoulders. "We're almost there, buddy. Then you can get to work." the blonde started moving, and Midoriya followed after him.

The corridor looked like a service pathway since it was devoid of any furniture, and only had a few other red doors dotting the walls. Maneuvering the entire hallway towards the military archives took about a few minutes, and once they've reached the end, they come across another red door that's been left ajar. Kirishima slowly pushed it open, and they came into a room with holes in the floor and had documents scattered all over said floor. On the far end, a vault door, the kind with a rotating crank in the middle, can be seen left ajar presumably by the Stalker that gave Kuzmich the sleep experiment documents. A sign on the door read "Армия Архив" in red letters.

"That's the army's archives. It's gotta be that one." Kirishima told the group in a hushed voice. The redheaded ranger made his way towards the room, avoiding the holes on the floor, and inspected the room. Finding no threat, he motioned for Kaminari to bring Midoriya to the room, and the blonde led the curly haired boy towards the room, carefully guiding him away from the holes. Once they're all inside, Kirishima let out a heavy sigh. "Wow! Okay, Midoriya, you can use your flashlight here."

Midoriya turned on his headlamp, illuminating the small room full of labeled, metal drawers; some were opened, some had their documents emptied out, and some of the drawers were even on the floor. "This is the room Mister Kuzmich told us about. This is your field now, and the faster you work, the sooner we can go, okay?" Kirishima said, which Midoriya hummed in affirmation at. "Alright! Me and Kaminari will be just outside. Holler at us if you need help or when you're done." Kirishima and Kaminari then walked out of the room to patrol the room, and to examine their surroundings.

Midoriya went to work immediately, starting with the opened drawers with documents. "Rascalov D.. Glukhovsky D.. Rashkovsky M.. Cherdenko A.. nothing important." Finding nothing, he starts opening some of the closed drawers. "Skadovsk.. Jupiter Plant..? Nah. A Compilation of Anomalies in Pripyat.. What?" he looks to another section, getting increasingly frustrated. "

"Metro-2.. Ramenki-43.. D-6 Complex.. Lomonosov Bunker 'Nauka'? These sound promising." he bags all three documents, and continues along the seemingly valuable sector of drawers. "Bunker-42.. Stalin Bunker? Well, these look promising too.." he bags the other two documents. Confident for another round, he comes up to another sector. "Project First Squad..? Nah. Krukov N.. no. White Forest Launch Complex.. maybe? And.. what's this?" he pops open an ajar drawer with a note in it, surprisingly. He reads the writing on the note.

 **Что твое, сейчас мое.**

"What is yours, is now mine? Hah?" he eyes the note in disbelief, and was about to crumple it and play it off as a prank until he felt cold metal pressed against the back of his head.

A low, raspy voice started speaking behind him in a hushed manner, making Midoriya's blood run cold for the second time. "Yeah, nerd. Your shit is mine now."

* * *

 **Well, cliffhanger. Thanks for reading!**

 **Reviews would be appreciated too!**


	4. The Bandit at Lenin Library

**Plenty of Bakugou here. I hope it makes up for his lack of presence in the previous chapters. And he mentions Hansa too, so I'll just explain what that is;**

 **\- The Commonwealth of the Stations of the Ring Line - AKA Hanseatic League or just Hansa, is a mercantile faction that encompasses the whole Koltsevaya ring line of the metro. As a result, everything goes through them, and they have become rich as a result. They have a sizable elite force and a lot of influence in the metro as well.**

 **Alright that's it.**

* * *

 _This guy is pointing a gun at me! How did he get in here?! What does he want?! He mentioned that what's mine is now his, so perhaps he's talking about the documents?! He must be one of those bandits, right?! Well, he can have the documents! They're not worth my life! I just hope he doesn't kill me! Or worse!_

* * *

Midoriya whimpered just enough for the guy to hear. "P-please don't kill me! The documents in the bag are worth hundreds of b-bullets! Just take them, don't kill me please!" he covered his face with his hands, which was now streaming with tears of fear and sorrow.

The guy pressed his gun further into Midoriya's head. "Shut up! I'm gonna take those fucking documents then I'm gonna take you with me! Who the fuck's gonna read that, huh?!" Midoriya whimpered again and he felt choked.

 _He's gonna take me with him?! I'll die! They'll have me live off scraps and they'll just kill me when I'm done with the documents! They might even torture me for fun!_

 _I-I never wanted this!_

"H-how did you get in h-here?" Midoriya asked in fear, yet curious. The guy shook him in annoyance. "Buildings have vents, idiot! How else would I have gotten here without getting past your buddies?! Which reminds me.." he pushed Midoriya to the side of the door frame, and the curly haired boy heard metal being unsheathed.

 _N-no! He's going to kill them!_

"Why don't you call one of your buddies here, huh? I can't use that tight-as-fuck vent again with you or these shitty documents with me, and I can't possibly get the fuck out of here with two shitty rangers on patrol, so now I gotta deal with them! Go on!" Midoriya felt another piece of cold metal on his ribs. "Or should I make you scream for that?" Midoriya shook his head rapidly, and gulped a lump on his throat before he spoke. "K-Kirishima? Can you come in here for a second?" he said weakly.

Heavy footsteps and gear signalled to Midoriya that Kirishima was on his way, or at worst, Kaminari, if Kirishima isn't in hearing range. "You okay, Midoriya? You sound shaken." that was Kirishima's voice, which more or less eased him.

 _At least with his quirk, he can stop this guy's attack.. I hope._

The vault door opened up with heavy creaking, and Kirishima went through it. "Midoriya, what's-" the ranger saw Midoriya squatting and crying on the floor, then the guy shoved the Brahmin to the side, making him hit a metal drawer on the floor, then he leaped at Kirishima with a knife in his right hand.

He is fast. Very fast, and the guy's knife connected with Kirishima's neck within a second. Fortunately for the ranger, he activated his quirk on the first sign of danger, so the knife broke in half without leaving a scratch on him. The guy retreated to the back of the room, and Kirishima immediately had his Kalashnikov's sights on him. "What the fuck?!" the guy yelled, sounding desperate.

Once Midoriya is done rubbing his hurt cheek with his hand, he caught a full glimpse of the offender; he has spiky ash-blonde hair, sharp facial features that are mostly covered by a black full-face gasmask, red eyes that seemed to glow, and he appeared to be wearing a black tank top that showed his strong and muscled arms along with metal plating on his shoulders and legs, and an olive green pair of worn cargo pants paired with black combat boots. A bunch of pipe bombs, dirty bullets, a pistol, and other gear swung from his belt

 _He actually looks quite.. handsome?_

 _Izuku! He's a bandit! And bandits are bad guys that kill innocents for fun! Besides, thinking of another guy as handsome is risky, alright?_

 _Strange, though.. he looks familiar._

"You do know that The Order has a 'If it's hostile, you kill it' doctrine? Well buddy, you're lucky you came up against me. I'll give you a chance to talk and explain yourself." Kirishima told the bandit, who continued sneering at him; he is also gripping at his pistol much more now. "Talk? Do I look like I wanna fucking talk, shitty-faced ranger? I have a quota to fulfill, and you're in the damn way!" a moment later, the bandit's hand started to spark, then the room was engulfed in a fiery light akin to a flashbang, blinding Midoriya and Kirishima.

 _Is that his quirk?!_

The bandit dashed through his cover, and grabbed the backpack then Midoriya by his shirt collar. He tried knocking over Kirishima to get to the door, but with the ranger's quirk active, he didn't budge, and the bandit knocked himself and Midoriya down instead. Once Kirishima deactivated his quirk, he aimed his Kalashnikov at the bandit. "So much for talking. Sorry, but it's the end of the line for you." the words seemed to have scared him a little.

Then Kirishima pulled the trigger, but he was knocked off balance by the door suddenly closing behind him, making his rifle spray bullets in front of him, putting holes on the drawers, and he himself was sent to the ground afterwards.

A loud growl made it's presence known accompanied by loud banging on the door; a Librarian. "You alerted it, you damn idiot!" Kirishima scolded the bandit while the creature tried opening the door it closed. The bandit, on the other hand, grabbed Kirishima's Kalashnikov amidst the confusion, and was now aiming it at him; Kirishima didn't look fazed by it. "You'll be wasting bullets on me, y'know? I'm practically bulletproof." he stated to the bandit matter-of-factly while the creature continued banging on the door.

The bandit snickered. "Yeah, keep talking like that you fucking cocky Polis shit." he kicked Midoriya, who was trying to stand up, sending him back down to the ground. "This nerd, though. I don't think he is. One Polis asshole is as good as another." he charged the bolt, and aimed at Midoriya, who curled into a ball while clutching at his head.

 _No no no no NO! Not like this!_

With his friend in imminent danger, Kirishima growled at the bandit in anger before he charged at him head-on, punching the bandit straight on his stomach two times, which sent him flying a few feet to the drawers. The ranger then grabbed the bandit by his shirt while he coughed up plenty of blood. "Do you live on killing innocent people, you sick fuck?! That's really damn pathetic and unmanly! No wonder we're supposed to shoot you assholes on sight!" Kirishima yelled angrily and while seething, which was a very foreign and scary expression that didn't suit his whole bright personality. Afterwards, he brought out a .44 revolver, and aimed it at the bandit's forehead.

Midoriya didn't want to see any more blood, and so he looked away from the two, and focused his sights on the door in case the still angry creature is able to break through after all of it's pounding. After a few seconds have passed, Kirishima hasn't pulled the trigger yet, however, as if something, or someone, was stopping him. Midoriya glanced at them.

The two were still in the same position they were in seconds ago, but the bandit looked contemplative now, and he looked incapable of fighting due to his injuries.

 _Kirishima really packs a punch with his quirk._

The bandit growled. "W-what? You suddenly can't shoot now? Too high and f-fucking mighty for those below you?" the bandit blurted out before coughing up more blood on his shirt. Kirishima looked sympathetically at the bandit. "Lost your fighting spirit, r-ranger? Nosalis got your tongue?" the ranger continued looking at him sympathetically with a hint of anger. "You can't be bothered to talk with inferior shits like me now, right? Of fucking course.. you Polis and Hansa fucks are all the same." the bandit stated venomously before coughing again; conveniently, the pounding also stopped a moment later, after one huge growl, that is.

Kirishima spoke lowly. "I view every person the same; as a person. Why do you think I gave you a chance to talk, hm? I'm not high and mighty, buddy. You're the one that threatened to shoot an innocent, who's also my friend." the bandit grumbled something inaudible due to his state. "You bandits are the ones who kill and steal from innocents, and you're wondering why we look down on you? Really now?" the ranger stated mockingly.

The bandit regained some strength to speak. "I do what I have to do to fucking survive. It's kill or be killed, dipshit. Besides, I have my reasons, and the people I kill, I steal from? I make sure it's from those that fucking deserve it anyway, like you Polis and Hansa fuckers! It's your fault why I'm like this!" Kirishima's interest peaked up at the bandit's words, and a moment later he withdrew his revolver from the bandit's head, making said bandit look at him judgementally. "Well, do you wanna talk now? I'm giving you one last chance." Kirishima asked with a friendly look in his eyes.

There was something about this bandit that Kirishima sensed that he quite can't figure out, like how he behaves differently from all of the bandits he has faced, who brag about all of the people they've killed and plundered from, innocent or not; there was just something different about this guy's words.

The bandit scoffed at Kirishima's offer and looked away from the ranger. "No, I don't wanna fucking talk, shitty ranger. I'd rather die and rot here than get helped by you or get.. shot for being so weak, so stupid." Kirishima chuckled at that. "I'll take that as a yes." the bandit grunted at that.

The door started to creak and open, drawing everyone's attention to it. Startled, Midoriya scrambled to get beside Kirishima, who had this Kalash pointed to the door already. After a few seconds of tense silence once the door was opened, Kaminari poked his head in shortly afterwards. "Has anyone tasted Librarian? I have one here, extra crispy!" the blonde stated lightheartedly with a chuckle.

Kirishima groaned at the blonde's joke, and Midoriya himself plopped down on the floor to lean beside some drawers. "Kami, now's not the time for jokes but thanks anyway." Kirishima chided the blonde not-very-seriously, who laughed in response. Midoriya peeked through the door, and found the hulking mutant face down on the floor and partially charred by Kaminari's quirk-gun; he let out a little "oh" at that.

The blonde ranger noticed some red stains on the redheaded ranger's gasmask. "Hey uh, something happened? There's blood on your gasmask." he pointed out to the redheaded ranger, looking a bit worried. Kirishima looked at the small stains on the bottom of his mask, and laughed it off. "Oh uh, long story bro, hehe." Kirishima then told his comrade the debacle earlier. After that, the two rangers started plotting their escape route, knowing that their previous route will most likely be congregating with Librarians by now due to their scent, and that they're bringing a bloodied bandit with them.

Midoriya, on the other hand, observed the blonde bandit from a safe distance, taking in his features which looked so familiar to him, especially those blood red orbs that were looking at him now. "Fuck off, shitty nerd." the curly haired boy flinched at the bandit's words, but didn't retreat from him. There was something about this blonde that drew Midoriya to him.

 _I swear I've seen his face before, but where? And when?_

Midoriya cautiously approached the bandit, who directed a glare at him to scare him off. Determined, he continued approaching the bandit until they were at arm's length of each other. "You're hurt." the curly haired boy stated. The bandit growled. "Isn't it obvious, fuckface? Now fuck off!" the bandit tried to lunge at him to scare him off, but his bleeding stomach made him incapable of doing so since it hurt a lot; Midoriya backed off a little, but approached him again anyway, like a moth to a flame. He brought out his little medkit case and opened it to get a syringe, which he showed to the bandit. "T-this can help with the pain." he tried to reach for the bandit's arm, but was shook off.

"I didn't ask for your fucking help, rat-face! Why don't you go back to your ranger buddies, huh?!" the bandit growled at Midoriya, but the curly haired boy showed no signs of backing off with his syringe. "Just let me help you, please!" he grabbed the bandit's arm quickly he wouldn't have a chance of retracting his arm from the curly haired boy.

The bandit glared holes into Midoriya's eyes. "What do you think you're doing?!" the bandit's voice was getting weaker, implying that he's getting weaker from the blood loss. He is still defiant though, trying to yank his arm away from Midoriya, who already positioned the syringe over the bandit's wrist. "Please?" he pleaded with those wide, doe-like eyes of his.

The bandit attempted to fight back Midoriya's pleading gaze with glares of his own, but the other boy showed no signs of backing off either way, and was already injecting the syringe into his arm already. The bandit grunted and looked away from the curly haired boy once he was done, eyeing the bag of documents beside him instead. "Do you feel better now?" Midoriya asked him, who grunted in response.

He'd also found out that he was holding the bandit's arm far longer than needed, so he pulled his hand away immediately.

Midoriya then paid attention to the bandit's hand clutching at his bloodied stomach, and was about to take a look until the bandit swatted his hand away. "You persistent little fucker. Do I have to put a gun on your head again to shoo you away?" the bandit snarled, but Midoriya being the "persistent little fucker" he is, he grabbed the bandit's hand and tried yanking it away from him. "You're bleeding there. I have to bandage you." Midoriya looked at him with his eyes again while his hand started to unconciously knead the other's knuckles.

The bandit's glare seemed to slowly subside, and he looked away from him, huffing. Midoriya is now able to gently lift the bandit's hand to his side, then he fetched some bandages and a small bottle of military grade first-aid solution from Kirishima.

Midoriya often thinks at times that his true quirk is him being able to convince people with his looks alone.

"Why the fuck do you even want to help, huh? Either you're some goody-fucking-two-shoes that gets off on helping other fuckers, or you're just damn stupid. Maybe both." the bandit stated as he watched Midoriya coat a clean rag in the first-aid solution. "Kirishima saw something in you that made him rethink about shooting you. And honestly? I-I think I see it too.." then he lifted up the bandit's tank top, showing his bloodied yet still firm and attractive abs; the blood flowed through the dips of his abs, further outlining the muscles, to which Midoriya got rather distracted at.

 _Quit staring! You're supposed to help him, not ogle him!_

 _.._

 _Perhaps the radiation is messing with me._

Midoriya coughed and blinked his eyes, then he gently rubbed the rag with the solution on the bandit's stomach to clean the wounds from any most-likely infected blood. The curly haired boy could feel the blonde's gaze burning holes on his skull until he "felt" it disappear. On looking at the blonde's face, his eyes were closed and his brows weren't furrowed, making him appear very peaceful; Midoriya panicked for a second, thinking that he died, but then he saw the gentle rise and fall of the bandit's chest, which calmed him down.

Midoriya's watch beeped, which meant that he had to change filters already. Midoriya then unscrewed the filter on his mask and pocketed it for recycling, then he brought out a new one that he screwed in; as an afterthought, he swapped the bandit's filter with a new one also.

Back outside of the room, Kaminari worried for Midoriya. "You sure it's okay to leave Midoriya there with him? I mean, y'know.." Kirishima waved off his speculations. "He's not going anywhere with that punch I gave him, let alone hurt Midoriya. He came to get some medstuff from me actually, so he's actually helping him!" Kaminari sighed and looked towards the basement stairs, their exit.

"Your buddy's kindness could be his undoing someday, just saying. Which reminds me, you should check on them, I'll go up and scout ahead." the blonde told Kirishima as he took off for the stairs. Kirishima rolled his eyes at his blonde comrade's assumption, and went to take a peek inside room. From his angle, it looked like as if Midoriya was feeling up the unconscious bandit's stomach. "Hey uh, Midoriya? We're gonna get going soon so quit groping him, yeah? Hehe." the ranger joked.

Midoriya got startled by Kirishima's sudden presence, and more so by his rather inappropriate joke. "K-Kirishima! I'm not groping him! I'm c-cleaning his w-wounds! See?!" he shot back, showing the red rag and his redder face. The ranger laughed and went inside the room, crouching in front of the bandit. "I know, I was just kidding, haha! Now lemme wrap the bandages on him so we can get going already." the ranger grabbed the bandages, lightly doused them with the solution, and dressed them on the bandit as quickly as he could. Midoriya shooed himself outside with the bag of documents.

As Kirishima finished with the bandages, he lifted the bandit up and carried him piggyback, then he went out of the room where he found Midoriya, who was muttering to himself rather loudly about the bandit. "He looks so familiar but I quite cannot place how or where I met him perhaps he was part of the community before I dunno why does he hate Polis and Hansa so much and what does he mean by them being the cause for how he is now maybe they denied him something-"

The ranger patted Midoriya on his shoulder to snap him out. "I'd say Metro to Midoriya but that's getting repetitive, don't you think? Anyway, let's get going before the sun sets!" the curly haired boy got startled by the ranger's appearance, which made him trip on a book, landing on his backside with an "ow". The ranger helped him up, then they went up the stairs, finding Kaminari already outside along with the setting sun.

"Alright, Midoriya! Since I'm carrying our comrade over here, cover me with your Bastard, okay? It's a short walk back to Polis so let's get going before the sun sets!"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading as usual!**


	5. Back at Polis Station

**Bakugou's a hardass.**

* * *

 _Ah, home sweet home. I don't want to go back to the surface after what happened, but something tells me I'll have to someday. Anyway, we got back okay, and that's what matters. The documents should be useful to Kuzmich, and I'll have to see what he really needs them for. For now though, we have to worry about the bandit. Polis is strict, if not violent, when it comes to bandits. Having him cooperate with our plan should be number one on our priority list, but I think having him not blow up Polis should come first._

* * *

The trio made it back to Polis Station in one piece just as the sun disappeared from the horizon, much to their relief. The presence of their "comrade" was questioned by the Polis guards at first, but Kirishima made up a story of the bandit being a Stalker they found in the Library; convinced, the Polis guards let them through and Kirishima offloaded him to Polis' infirmary while Midoriya gave the documents to Kuzmich which he was paid a hefty sum of five-hundred bullets for.

After having his dinner, which was comprised of an amalgam of pork and mushrooms, Midoriya went to the infirmary to check up on the familiar bandit, and the curly haired boy sat on a bench beside his bed. The bandit rested peacefully on the bed with a blanket draped up to his neck while a heartrate monitor intermittently beeped, showing that he's still alive.

Polis' infirmary really resembled that of a prewar hospital, complete with gurneys, IVs, heartrate monitors, prewar medicines, clear lighting, and even an X-ray! It was very clean as well. Midoriya was rather grateful that he lived in this very station rather than the other far-off stations, who have resorted to primitive methods for doing everything.

Midoriya watched the gentle rise and fall of the bandit's chest, and he thought again of how peaceful and much more handsome his face appeared when he's not looking to kill. The thought of how familiar this very bandit looked constantly popped up in his mind as well.

 _Maybe he was part of the local community before but he left? Or perhaps I met him during one of my caravan jobs? Maybe even during my time in Teatralnaya!_

 _..._

 _Nah, who am I kidding. I barely remember my time in that station anyway._

"Oh! Midoriya!" Uraraka's voice suddenly bellowed out from behind Midoriya, startling him with a yelp; Iida's shushing of Uraraka followed up afterwards. "Uraraka! This is an infirmary! You must remain quiet as to not disturb the patients!" Uraraka let out a chorus of "okays" to satisfy Iida. Once that's done, Uraraka hugged Midoriya. "We saw Kirishima and Kaminari come back but you weren't with them, but when he told me that you're in the infirmary, we panicked! Are you okay, though?"

Midoriya rubbed a bandage on his cheek; the injury was when his cheek hit a metal drawer in the library. "Just this, Uraraka. I'm fine." he finished, smiling. Iida then rushed to his side. "Good to know that you're in one piece, Midoriya. But have you delivered those documents to Mister Kuzmich? He gets unpredictable when you keep him waiting." the bespectacled man asked, to which Midoriya nodded at. "Mmhmm Iida. They're with him already. I just dropped by to get this bandaged.. and to visit him." the curly haired boy looked at the resting bandit on the bed with a look of worry.

 _I hope he behaves when he wakes up. Polis doesn't like troublemakers, let alone bandits. I also hope I can convince him to go with our cover story too._

Uraraka's interest peaked at the bandit. "Oh? Who is he?" Iida went closer to get a closer look at him. "Is he the Stalker Kirishima told us about? I have never seen him before." Iida's tone was suspicious. Midoriya is quick to defend the bandit. "He's probably from some other station! We couldn't just leave him there, you know? He was still breathing." he finished with a stubborn look on his face. Iida and Uraraka backed off afterwards, with the latter "aww-ing" while at it. "How kind of you, Izuku! Really! Even going out your way to help strangers! Even though that's risky.." Iida nodded approvingly, accompanied by his usual hand motions. "Indeed, though it was Kirishima that carried him here, right? But for all we know, he could actually be a bandit or sabateour-" Uraraka nudged him by his shoulder at that. "You're ruining the moment, Iida!"

After a minute of awkward silence, Uraraka piped up again. "So.. were you able to get something for us?" she asked with giddy eyes. Midoriya shook his head sheepishly, to which Uraraka patted his back for. "S'okay. You weren't obligated to." Iida hummed in agreement. "Yes, your mission is of utmost priority compared to gifts."

After a minute of hushed chattering between the three, a pair of heavy footsteps made themselves audible from behind the trio. Looking behind them, they found out it was Shouto in his usual gear and gasmask, minus filters. Uraraka greeted him first. "Hey Shouto! How's your trip?" Iida also extended his hand to the Stalker; Shouto waved at Uraraka and shook Iida's hand. "My latest trip was to a mall in Red Square, it was okay. Um, which reminds me, may I talk to Midoriya, please?"

Uraraka clasped her hands together. "Sure! Which reminds me too, me and Iida have a job in Arbatskaya so we gotta get going anyway!" she grabbed Iida and dragged him out of the infirmary. "Do svidaniya, you two!" she added. From outside, Iida can be heard chastising Uraraka for improper conduct; by improper conduct, her dragging him through the hallways.

Once Uraraka and Iida were out of sight, Shouto sat on the bench, beside Midoriya; the Stalker looked at Midoriya with worried eyes, which the curly haired boy noticed. "I'm okay, Shouto. Just this scratch." he touched the bandage on his cheek; Shouto sighed in relief. "You worried me, but it's good to know that you're okay." he said before he started to rummage under his vest. "Well, I'm here because I found something that you might like. You're still into All Might, right?" Midoriya nodded with increased interest, though his eyes drifted to Shouto's face, gasmask still on.

 _I really do wonder why Shouto needs to keep on wearing his gasmask here. Is he hiding something?_

Shouto brought out a rather scratched All Might comic in English from his vest, and he rubbed at the cover to get rid of any loose dirt and dust on it; Midoriya's eyes glinted with happiness and surprise. "I found this in a small comic store inside the mall. Most comics were covered in frost and beyond repair but I found this in the store's backroom, free of any serious damage." he extended his hand with the comic towards Midoriya, who is still awestruck and looking at the comic. "Here you go, Midoriya. And no, you don't have to pay me. It's another gift from me."

Midoriya slowly grabbed the comic from Shouto, then he stared at it for a while before putting it on the bench. He then hugged Shouto, catching the Stalker off-guard. "Thank you Shouto! Thank you so much!" Shouto, being not very touchy-feely, wasn't used to hugs, but he tried to hug Midoriya back, which ended up being awkward due to his gear. "All of these All Might comics, my sneakers, you could've sold them but you're giving them to me instead! I feel so special." Shouto retracted from the hug, then he ruffled Midoriya's hair. "A friend is worth more than a bunch of bullets. You deserve it." Midoriya smiled back at Shouto, which made the Stalker's day much better.

Curious of Midoriya's comrade, he looked behind the curly haired boy, seeing ash blonde hair and a resting face. "Is he the Stalker you guys brought down here?" the Stalker asked, to which Midoriya nodded in confirmation. Shouto looked at the bandit on the bed much closely now, his squinted eyes scrutinizing the bandit's face. "Hmm.. he looks familiar. I think I've seen him during my trip in Polyanka.." Shouto's tone suddenly dropped into a hostile one, worrying Midoriya; the Stalker's eyes looked angry as well. "He shot at me and burned the left side of my face with his quirk. Apparently, this asshole was trying to get my stuff." Shouto then placed his hands on Midoriya's shoulders, as if to lock him in place. He then spoke in a gravely serious tone that put the curly haired boy in a state of unease. "Midoriya, why did you bring a bandit in here?"

 _Shit._

Midoriya then tried to put on a brave face, but he looked like a baby about to cry instead. "He surrendered to us. He did put up a fight but he surrendered. Kirishima injured him so we brought him back down here." Shouto didn't look satisfied with that, so Midoriya continued. "He's still a human being, Shouto! Like any other good-natured person, you wouldn't leave your two-legged brethen to the mutants or the radiation now, would you?" Shouto grunted and eyed the bandit angrily. He stood up, but Midoriya's sudden grip on his wrist didn't let him go anywhere. "Don't tell anyone. Please don't. They'll throw him out or kill him if they find out. Please Shouto!" Midoriya pleaded with his crying eyes, hoping his "supposed quirk" would work on the stoic Stalker.

Shouto hummed, and looked at Midoriya; he sighed afterwards. "No promises, Midoriya." he yanked his arm away from Midoriya, who now looked dejected. Before he would walk off on the saddened Brahmin however, Shouto quickly hugged Midoriya then walked away. "Have a good day, Izuku." he stated before he's out of Midoriya's sight. With Shouto gone, he returned his attention to the bandit on the bed, who started to shuffle a little.

 _Oh, he's waking up._

He anticipated the bandit's awakening with wide eyes, observing the furrowing of the bandit's eyebrows, then he planted himself firmly on the bench. Then the bandit's eyes fluttered open slowly, which turned into a squint due to the infirmary's bright lighting; he grunted as he took in his surroundings of white tiles and the beeping of the machine beside him.

"Um, hello." Midoriya spoke from beside the bed. On hearing the curly haired boy's voice, the bandit looked to his direction with squinted and red eyes; his eyes widened a little, and his mouth formed into a sneer. "Y-you.. you brought me here to this.. fucking clinic.. didn't ya?" Midoriya nodded, to which the bandit grunted again and went to look at the ceiling, his eyes adjusting to the light. "This is fucking Polis, isn't it? All of these bright-as-fuck lights.."

"Yeah, you're in Polis.." Midoriya replied. The bandit visibly flinched with wide eyes, and so tried to stand up due to the eply. "Oh I get what you're fucking getting at. I am not giving you fuckers a single bullet, unless it's to your heads!" he tried to yank off the cords attached to his arms, but Midoriya pushed him back onto the bed. "No! I-I mean I paid for you! They're not gonna charge you anything! Stay, please!" he pleaded desperately to the bandit, who, on the other hand, stopped moving and looked at him in disbelief. "That's a lie! I'm too familiar with how you rich stations work! Like I asked for your damn help anyway!" the bandit stated angrily.

Midoriya continued holding the bandit down; it's a good thing that he's stronger than he looks. "I promise you, I paid for it. They won't charge you a single bullet. Just stay here for one more day and you'll be good to go." he looked at the bandit with his eyes, hoping to put his "quirk" to use.

The bandit flinched, and looked away from him. "Stop fucking looking at me like that. You're like a fucking kid that lost his teddy bear." he glanced back to the curly haired boy, who was still looking at him like that. "Is something wrong in that fucked-up brain of yours or something?" Midoriya didn't back off, so the bandit huffed and relaxed back on the bed, watching the heartrate monitor instead of the "kid".

Midoriya backed off afterwards and sat back down on the bench, watching him. "What's your name?" he asked the bandit. "None of your business, freckle-shit." the bandit retorted, still looking at the monitor; Midoriya audibly sighed.

About ten minutes have passed with the bandit just staring at the white ceiling with Midoriya watching him intently, with only the beeping of the heartrate monitor filling the atmosphere around them. Then the bandit grunted before he spoke. "I'm fucking hungry." Midoriya perked up instantly and stood up before him. "I can get you food!" the bandit was quick to react, grabbing the curly haired boy's wrist before he could depart, and tried to stand up himself. "Do I look like a fucking charity case? I'm gonna get my own food and- arghh!" the bandit clutched at his stomach from the sudden pain that came from it due to him standing up. Midoriya gently pushed him back to the bed. "You can't stand up without your stomach hurting so please let me. It's the least I can do for getting you there anyway." Midoriya then turned to leave.

The bandit grabbed Midoriya's wrist again before he could leave. "Why the hell are you like that? Did you forget that I tried to fucking rob you? Or did the radiation fuck up your little brain, huh?" Midoriya put on a serious face. "You were just doing what you can to survive, right? You don't sound.. inherently evil. And I trust Kirishima's judgement." the curly haired boy then yanked his wrist away from the bandit and left; he heard the bandit grunt loudly enough as he left.

* * *

Midoriya is on his way back to the infirmary with a bowl of the same pork-and-mushroom amalgam that he had for dinner, this time for the bandit. He then entered the bandit's ward, who appeared to be staring at the heartrate monitor. Midoriya coughed to gain his attention. "Um, I have your food here." he placed the bowl on a wooden end table beside the bandit's bed. The bandit looked at Midoriya questionably, then he moved closer to the end table to scrutinize the food and to take a whiff of it; him eyeing it widely somewhat meant that he liked the smell, so he grabbed the bowl and a spoon from Midoriya and started to eat.

Midoriya is watching him get a spoonful, but before the bandit could put the spoon inside his mouth, he stopped midway and put the spoon back on the bowl. "Is something wrong?" he asked. The bandit then placed the bowl down on his lap and he eyed the bowl with a confused expression, which confused the curly haired boy. "Why are you like that, a good-fucking samaritan? Isn't your focus on making money?" the bandit stated lowly and not angrily, which sounded different to Midoriya. The curly haired boy sighed then spoke. "I care about people. I don't know what Polis or Hansa did to you but I don't follow the same principles they do, it's just how I am. Money is important, yeah but, you know what's more important?" the bandit turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows, but not in an angry sense. "What?"

Midoriya smiled wholeheartedly at him. "Having friends, and making the people around you happy. That's what I think anyway. Maybe those people you encountered were so focused on money that they did some things? Well, I don't think like them, and neither do my friends. Which reminds me.." Midoriya began to fish in his jacket's pockets for something, but when the bandit heard sounds of little metal pieces, he figured out that they're bullets. Midoriya brought out about five thirty-round metal clips of military grade rounds, and placed them on the table; about one-hundred fifty bullets. "I only keep enough money for necessities, and store the rest. I have enough for myself right now so.. I um, I thought you'll be needing these more than me." he finished, smiling at the bandit.

The bandit, however, didn't appear to have liked the gesture, and instead, he got mad. "Didn't I tell you that I'm not some fucking charity case, dipshit?! I never asked to be fucking bandaged! I never asked to be brought to this shithole of an infirmary! And most of all, I never asked for any of your fucking bullets!" he angrily lashed out at the bullets, sending them down to the floor with one swipe of his hand, as if his pain was never there. "I never asked for your kindness, so take a fucking hike and get eaten by a Demon!"

Midoriya visibly looked hurt with what the bandit had done. He lowered his head from the bandit's view; he was sniffling. "Okay.." he slowly stood up from the bench with his fists clenched on his sides, visibly trembling. "When you leave, tell the ranger with red hair and he'll vouch for you.." Midoriya then turned his back on the bandit, and walked out of the infirmary, leaving the bandit alone with the bowl of food and the beeping of the heartrate monitor.

Midoriya brisk-walked back to his room at Borovitskaya, ignoring the glances of the people he came across, notably Kirishima and Kaminari. Once he's back in his room, he locked it tight and plopped himself on his mattress, his tiredness coming in all at once to lull him to sleep.

* * *

The following "day", Midoriya woke with his eyes feeling sore and wetter than usual. He yawned and sat up a little, and saw a little wet spot on his mattress from where his eyes were.

 _I must've cried myself to sleep._

He cleaned his eyes with a cloth from his pocket, and fully sat up on his mattress, leaning against the concrete wall. He pulled his legs closer to his body and hugged them, resting his head on his knees. He let out a hefty sigh as the memories from earlier surfaced again.

 _I guess not everyone can be influenced with kindness. Well, living in these conditions, it's understandable. For one, someone's act of kindness could be just them getting in someone's way. They didn't need it, didn't ask for it.._

 _Why do I even bother?_

"Because I like seeing people happy." Midoriya says to himself while sniffling and hugging at his knees much tighter. His watch beeped, but this time signalling to him that it's time to go to work; while most of timekeeping was rendered irrelevant, like day and night, the hours and minutes are still relevant to keep track of schedules. He hastily cleaned his face with the clean rag, pocketed it, and he stood up to get out of his room. Once he has locked his room, he stepped out into the bright Polis lights once again.

Along the way to Arbatskaya, his workspace, he overhears the Polis Council announce that the treaty with the Nazis and the Communists broke down, and were now fighting again; they also announced to the Polis public to avoid going to the Communist and Nazi stations for the time being due to the starting war, and that they're also closing Alexandrovsky Sad's and Biblioteka Im. Lenina's tunnels to traffic since their tunnels connect to the Nazi and Communist stations, respectively.

His thoughts come back to the ash blonde bandit, and he figured it wouldn't hurt to see if he's still there at the infirmary. Curious, he took the steps to Lenin Station instead of Arbatskaya. Once he's up, he brisk-walked to the infirmary, and once inside, he took a peek at the bandit's ward; the bed is empty and undone, and on the table is the bowl Midoriya gave him, which is now empty. Midoriya sighed.

 _Of course he left. He didn't want to be here in the first place._

The bullets were also nowhere to be found. Once Midoriya left the infirmary, he ran into Kirishima, who told him that he just disappeared. Knowing better that he left, he thanks Kirishima in a monotone voice and makes his way to Arbatskaya.

Once he's at Arbatskaya, he runs into Shouto at the escalator's steps, who briefly greets Midoriya and notifies him of a new batch of books that have arrived at his workspace. After mumbling a quick "thank you" to the Stalker, he quickly makes his way to his workspace, hoping that the work would distract him from his thoughts.

He brings up the box to his desk, and starts cataloging the books, writing down the authors and the books on his clipboard. "Asimov..."

* * *

"...Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Lord of The Rings." Midoriya sets his pencil aside and leans back on his chair, heavily sighing. "Hah.. And that's that!" he stated victoriously as he wiped off some sweat off his forehead using his jacket's sleeve.

It was five hours of non-stop cataloging, but his work did accomplish to distract him from those thoughts pertaining to the previous "day" since he went from sulking to utterly focused that put his mind on his work. Being a dedicated worker, he made enough money to live in Polis, with some left over for other luxuries which he uses most of the time to purchase post cards or comics from merchants.

After taking the box with the catalogue to Kuzmich, he's paid his daily fifty bullets, and he goes back to Borovitskaya, now feeling more at ease. Once there, he stops by his usual food outlet, orders dinner there, and chats with the cook slash owner of the outlet; today's topic was about rumors of some psychic mutants threatening the outlying VDNKh station that came from Botanicheskiy Sad, the Botanical Gardens. Midoriya shook it off as one of the many stories the stations come up with so they don't get attacked. Once he's done eating the usual amalgam, he says his goodbyes to the cook and goes back to his room.

He settles in his room, taking his sneakers and jacket off to be comfortable. He turns on the little wall lamp on his room, illuminating it with white light, then he sits on his mattress and grabs the All Might comic Shouto gave him the other day. He had only gotten to reading the intro when two knocks suddenly sounded on his door.

 _Weird, unless it's Mister Kuzmich.._

"It's open, come in!" he says cheerfully. When the door opened, his mood immediately dropped since the person appeared to have ash blonde hair and red eyes; the bandit. "Never mind what I said. Leave." Midoriya stated as coldly as he could, redirecting his eyes to the comic and fixing them there.

"I have something to say-" the bandit said, but he was cut off by Midoriya's angry look, which looked even more foreign on his face than anger on Kirishima's. "Oh I'm sorry, unfortunately you have exhausted all of your chances to talk, so please leave. That's what you wanted to do anyway, right?" Midoriya stated angrily with a hint of snark. The bandit didn't back off, and instead went inside the room, shutting the door behind him while growling; that irked Midoriya even more, but he can't help but feel scared, the bandit did try to kill him at the library. "I asked you to-" he placed his comic on the mattress and turned to look at the bandit, but he was caught off-guard with the bandit's sudden proximity. "-leave.."

The bandit's proximity absolutely terrified him. He scrambled to the other corner of his room, away from the bandit. "I-if you kill me, people will know! They saw y-you come in here and t-the rangers will shoot you on si-" the bandit shushed him with a hand on his mouth. Midoriya looked ready to cry.

"You're fucking loud, shut up." the bandit then retracted his hand from Midoriya's mouth after a few seconds, who gulped as he looked at his red, fiery eyes; he couldn't find any malice in them, though. "I'm not gonna fucking kill you, so let me talk, huh? You and your shitty bravado." the curly haired boy quickly nodded.

The bandit sat down on the floor and sighed before he spoke. "Yeah. I fucking need your money, but I'm not some shitty charity case that you have to take fucking pity on. I don't like it. I don't like being pitied.. being viewed as some kind of shitty weakling that needs free help." the bandit looked away and grunted while furiously scratching his head. "What's your point?" Midoriya perked up, honestly wanting this over with.

The bandit blinked and looked back at Midoriya with his eyebrows furrowed, yet he didn't sound or look angry as a whole. "When I get something, I have to fucking work for it. I want to fucking work for it. That way, it feels fucking worthy getting it, like everything should be in this damn metro." he started to rummage at his pockets, then he brought out five clips of military-grade bullets from said pockets; they're the same ones that he sent down to the infirmary's floor. He placed said clips on the floor's small space between him and the curly haired boy, which surprised him. The bandit looked back at him with a determined and slightly pent-up gaze.

"So, what I'm trying to say is this; the name's Bakugou Katsuki, let me fucking work for you."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading as always! Feel free to leave a review! I love those! Do point out any errors too if that's alright!**


	6. Memories in The Metro

**I'm back with a new chapter, and I hope it's good! It focuses on Bakugou's past. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _He wants to work for me? Bakugou Katsuki, the bandit? Some sense of pride he has but... I don't know how he'll be able to work for me though. All I do is catalogue books, validate or fetch stuff in other stations.. and I don't know what kind of background we'll be able to give him. I'd like to have him around, but what for? What will I do? I.. don't want to turn him down either. And I hope Polis never finds out he's a bandit-er.. former bandit? They'll kill him for sure._

* * *

Midoriya stared at Bakugou straight in his eyes, curious and disbelieving; he scrutinized him as well. The blonde's returning gaze was consistent, solid, and didn't falter; very sincere and serious. The blonde groaned after a while of staring, adjusting his sitting position. "So... that good?"

The curly haired boy started to think of how Bakugou can work for him, and how he'll be able to pass off as someone that's not a bandit, which is a bit problematic since his whole being screams 'bandit'. He speculated on living space, job, history, and so on.

"The fuck are you mumbling for?" the blonde cut in at Midoriya's thoughts, unaware that he was mumbling to himself his thoughts loud enough to be heard around the small room. The curly haired boy then sighed to himself, staring at the little pile of bullet clips in front of him. "I.. I don't know."

Bakugou groaned and lied down on the floor, back pressed against the cold floor. He picked up a clip of bullets and started to toss it around on his hand, bored. "I want to see how different you are from the rest of Polis and the other fuckers. You're.. interesting. Look, I have never met a Polis prick who's okay with throwing money at others just to make them happy. And you could've left me there but you didn't. I don't get you, and I want to know why."

Midoriya listened intently, ears perking up in interest while a small smile tugged at his lips. "You.. trust me?" the boy's words made Bakugou lose focus, making the clip of bullets hit him on his forehead with a grunt, which left a red mark there. "Fuck." the blonde stood up and rubbed at the affected area, trying to sooth it. Midoriya was already alarmed by the blonde's predicament, and offered to massage the area, to which said blonde said no to, but Midoriya did so anyway.

The curly haired boy carefully rubbed at the red mark, sighing in relief due to the area not being bad enough to elicit bleeding or a concussion, especially since it's a heavy clip of bullets. Bakugou watched Midoriya's scarred hands do their work on his forehead, which seemed to ease the pain a lot. The blonde blushed a little since he's not used to this kind of intimate contact, let alone being touched so gently. "To answer your question, I don't fully trust you.. but I trust you more than anyone else in this shithole. You're different, alright? That's why." Midoriya continued kneading at the blonde's forehead, sending a smiling glance towards him, feeling honored and touched at his statement. Midoriya felt special. "Thank you.. Kacchan."

Bakugou froze for a moment at the statement, eyes wide and frozen in place with his lips fixed in a straight line, which Midoriya noticed and got alarmed at. "Something wrong? Um.. Bakugou?" he tapped at the blonde's shoulder to no effect. "Bakugou?" he then started to shake him, lightly panicking.

The blonde jolted and grabbed Midoriya's hands, clutching at them tightly as if he was a hostile. On seeing that it's just the curly haired boy, who looked shocked by his sudden action, he eased up, slowly releasing his grip on the other. He rubbed at his head furiously, and shook it afterwards. "Something wrong?" Midoriya asked again. Bakugou scrutinized him, boring holes into his eyes before receding with a grunt. "No. Just.. remembered something, but I fucking forgot about it already! Dammit!" he tugged at his hair and loudly groaned, angry at himself for forgetting. Midoriya had an idea, and thought it wouldn't hurt to try. "Kacchan?"

There it was again; Bakugou froze, but only for a short while, then he blinked at Midoriya, looking perplexed. "Th-that.. that sounded so fucking familiar. But I don't know from where, or who.." now it was Midoriya's turn to blink. "It just came up to my mind, actually.. I remember saying it a lot during my childhood, but that's it. I guess it's because of your name? Katsuki plus the Japanese suffix 'chan' equals 'Kacchan'!"

Bakugou huffed and went to recline at the wall, resting his head and back on the cold concrete. "How did I fucking end up here, a Japanese guy, in Russia? You also. Ever wondered that?." Midoriya shrugged, and Bakugou's eyes wandered the walls of Midoriya's room, examining the wall of post cards of what seemed to be prewar buildings, then there's a stack of prewar comics beside said wall, mostly about All Might. "I heard about the All Might comic series. Hansa says they sell really fucking well, like one-fifty bullets for a single book. That could keep anyone happy for a helluva long time." his eyes shifted towards Midoriya again, who looked uneasy and fidgeted with his fingers. He actually felt concerned for the boy this time. "I don't plan on stealing them so ease the fuck up." his words were blunt, and shot right through the curly haired boy, making him less uneasy. It confirmed something to the blonde.

"Huh, seems you don't trust me fully, if not at all. It's mutual." the blonde huffed, then he pushed the clips of bullets towards Midoriya as he stood up from his sitting position, making Midoriya look at them in surprise. "Fine. Keep that shit then. I'll be on my way." the blond went for the door, but he was stopped by the other's hands planted firmly on his shoulders, not wanting him to go.

"I'm sorry! I just.. well yeah, I don't fully trust you, but I want to. So.. I'd like it if you could show me that I could trust you... Kacchan." Midoriya sputtered out in his haste, then he lowered his head to gaze at the floor, embarassed at Bakugou.

There's that nickname again, which seemed to trigger memories in Bakugou's head. It annoyed him, but he also wanted to know what they were. The blonde's vision faded then into a dream.

* * *

 _"Let's play hide and seek, Kacchan!"_

 _There was a boy in front of Bakugou, and he smiled so happily it could be felt by anyone who looked at him, including Bakugou, but apart from his smile, the rest of his face and head were blurry. They were both around four to five years old at the time, living in a station full of performers of the theater arts like singers, dancers, actors, comedians, and so on. Behind the boy was the entrance to the theater, a line of customers at it, waiting to get inside while some gruff guy tended to their tickets. The boy tugged at Bakugou's shirt, then he ran behind him, giggling loudly and happily._

 _"C'mon, Kacchan!"_

 _"Fine, Deku. I'll count to ten!"_

 _Bakugou faced against a marble pillar, and with his ears, he tried to make out the other boy's light footsteps from the other people's, and he seemed to be heading towards the station platform. He started counting off._

 _".. devyat.. desyat."_

 _Bakugou broke into a sprint and ran towards the stations platforms. He turned tight corners and weaved through large crowds of waiting people until he'd reached the station platform, chock full of crates and bags belonging to passengers of the railcars. There, on the opposite side of the platform, was the station sign, in all it's red lettered glory._

 _ТЕАТРАЛЬНАЯ_

* * *

"Bakugou? Bakugou? I'm sorry! Please wake up!"

The blonde jolted awake, head soaked in cold sweat and cutting his dream short. Apparently, he fell unconscious and had been dreaming of those memories, the nickname Midoriya kept on using triggering them. He can't tell why, but he really wanted to know. "Do you know anyone named 'Deku'?" he asked Midoriya sternly, who shook his head. "Sounds like a derogatory nickname. Maybe they're a bandit?" the other added his two-cents. "Derogatory? How?" the blonde asked back, rubbing the red spot on his forehead which hurt again. Midoriya pondered, then he popped his mouth open. "Ah! I think it means 'useless'? My Japanese isn't the best but my Russian is worse."

Bakugou grunted, still not getting the answer he's looking for. He recollected his thoughts for a moment, then he brought them up to Midoriya. "Do you know anyone called Deku or whatever in Teatralnaya?"

 _Teatralnaya! That was.. that was my home before Polis!_

Midoriya shook his head in response while he reached for a small canteen of water for Bakugou. "No.. But, can't you remember their face? This Deku?" Midoriya asked while passing the canteen to Bakugou, who unscrewed the cap immediately and drank. "Their face was faded for some reason, but the little shit giggles like a girl, and smiled so fucking happily.. We were little kids, playing hide and seek. The little shit kept on calling me 'Kacchan' and I looked for him. We were in Teatralnaya. That's all I could remember."

Bakugou then processed what Midoriya had told him, that he had a childhood in Teatralnaya, that he kept on calling someone "Kacchan" there. The pieces were there, but he wasn't jumping into conclusions until he knew for sure. "Hey. You said you had a childhood in Teatralnaya, and that you kept on calling some shit 'Kacchan' there. How.. how does that prick look like?"

Midoriya thought about it, eyes looking at the ceiling and a hand resting on his chin. "I.. I don't know either. All I know is that he played a bit rough with me and.. hurt me sometimes. But I know it wasn't on purpose.. I don't know why I can't remember how they look like though." Midoriya sighed in defeat, and went to lie down on his little mattress on the floor. He looked at Bakugou with a pensive smile. "Oh, and.. I don't know how you'll be able to work for me.."

Then he starts to remember things in his relaxed state, like Kirishima telling him that he and Kaminari won't be available most of the time, that there are little to no available rangers, and that most of the available ones are too brash for Midoriya's comfort. Kuzmich also told him back then that frequent trips outside of Polis, and at the surface, might be a possibility thanks to all the expeditions being sent. With those thoughts, Midoriya pipes up happily, sitting up and beaming at Bakugou, who got a bit disturbed with the curly haired boy's sudden change of demeanour. "I know! You can be my bodyguard when I have to go somewhere! I'm kinda defenseless anyway. I suck at handling guns, I don't know any self defense techniques, and I'm-" Midoriya cut himself off, thinking that telling the bandit that he's quirkless might be too much information for their current trust level.

"You're what?" Bakugou inched closer to him with an expectant frown, to which Midoriya backed up a little and waved his hands at Bakugou. "I-I just suck with combat in general! A-and perhaps having an experienced professional like yourself could mean a longer lifespan for me since I think I'll be sent out of Polis more often!"

Bakugou's somewhat delighted expression meant that he's satisfied with the curly haired boy's answer. "If that's the case, when do I start? What's my background? I'm not saying I'm a fucking bandit in bandit-phobic Polis." the blonde huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Midoriya then sat up and went for the door. "I'll.. think of something. Please stay here, Bakugou. I'm gonna talk to someone." As Midoriya opened the door, getting the bullets along the way, the blonde's hand latched onto his shoulder, and he looked very distrustful. "You better not report me, freckle shit. Or I'm killing you before I get dragged off in whatever dungeon they lock me up in." the statement made Midoriya flinch, but then he held onto Bakugou's hand on his shoulder, rubbing a calming pattern on it. "I won't, Kacchan. You can count on me for that. Besides, I wanted you to stick around, remember?"

Bakugou scoffed and tugged his hand off Midoriya's shoulder even though he liked the other's soothing touches. "As far as I fucking know, you'll turn me in for a reward." he stated gruffly, to which Midoriya lightly chuckled at. "Kacchan, I have a lot of money already. And besides, I'm not greedy. I'd prefer friends over bullets anytime!" he stated cheerfully before he went through the doorway. "I'll be back in a bit! Help yourself to what I have there!" Bakugou's hand stayed on Midoriya's wrist, and he tugged him back a little before he could get out. "Stop.. calling me that." the blonde looked pensive and angry at the same time, which Midoriya took notice, so he patted the blonde's hand on his wrist with a little smile. "Okay, Bakugou. I understand." Bakugou then let go of the curly haired boy's hand, then he disappeared among the Polis crowd.

Bakugou grunted, and shut the door, then he opted to sit down on Midoriya's soft mattress, and he felt its softness, which was a major far cry from the concrete floors and steel benches he slept on. Bakugou was a nomadic bandit that stole from the elites of Polis and Hansa after "it" happened, somewhat his "revenge" on them. It was a turning point in Bakugou's life, one that led to his banditry and distrust of Polis and Hansa, the elite in general.

* * *

 _Bakugou was woken up by heavy, incessant knocks on the door. Sitting up from his bed, he glanced at his surroundings; he's in Prospekt Mira, at his little flat. He saw his uniform hanging on the side, a Hansa guard's; he worked as part of the station's elite garrison. He's good at his job; he's proficient in first aid, handling of firearms, and his explosion quirk made everything easier for him. He mostly dealt with bandits, mutants, and the occasional drunkard._

 _When he opened the door, he was met by a Hansa officer who's surrounded by two grunts with Saiga automatic shotguns. He raised his eyebrow at the seemingly suspiscious individuals. "The fuck do you want?" The officer cleared his throat with a cough, and looked at his clipboard which he held with a hand. "You are Katsuki Bakugou, yes?" the officer asked sternly. Bakugou growled back and replied. "Yeah. Who's asking?" he asked back impatiently._

 _The officer hummed accusatively, and went away from the doorway, pointing at him. "Take him into custody." then the two guards went to cuff him. Bakugou shoved them away, prompting the two to aim their weapons at him. "The fuck is this?! I did jackshit!" he shouted angrily, fists balled in anger. In response, a guard hit him in the face with the butt of his shotgun, sending Bakugou to the ground with a bleeding nose. The officer stepped up to him, and looked down at him. "Katsuki Bakugou. You are under arrest for the destruction of a Polis convoy, and the murder of all but one of its fifty passengers." the officer kicked him in the stomach, making the blonde spew out some blood from his mouth and nose, groaning in pain. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, svoloch?"_

 _Bakugou coughed and groaned in pain, then he tilted his shead towards the officer, glaring daggers at him. "The fuck? I did not do anything you shithead!" the officer kicked him again for his choice of words. "Remaining survivor has testified. Blonde hair, red eyes, vulgar words, explosion quirk, Yaponskiy imena.. that is you, and only you." the officer waved at the grunts, prompting them to lift up Bakugou and cuff him. The officer grinned in triumph, while Bakugou threw half-hearted glares at him, weakened._

 _"I believe simply shooting scum like you is not enough. Your punishment has been determined. You will be thrown to the surface, and die by the radiation.. or the mutants. Either way, your death will be slow.. and painful."_

* * *

"Kacchan? Wake up! Please wake up!"

Midoriya was trying to wake up Bakugou, who kept on turning and flinching while asleep, along with making pained noises. After one forceful shake, the blonde suddenly bolted up from his memory-induced stupor, frightening Midoriya, who yelped and scampered away a bit. The blonde shook his head and blinked his eyes to further realign himself with the current realm, sitting up in the process. He then looked at the curly haired boy while breathing heavily. "The fuck was that for?"

Midoriya looked worried, brows furrowed down and he constantly fidgeted with his fingers. "I-I got back, and I saw you sleeping on my bed.. but you were tossing around and yelling strained words, as if you're hurting. Was it.. a nightmare?" the other looked very concerned, which irked a part of Bakugou, and eased another. He felt conflicted about Midoriya's concern, and he hated it.

"S'nothing." the blonde examined his surroundings, finding it to be Midoriya's room, and he eased up, sitting back down lazily on the mattress. "So.. what did you do?" the question made the curly haired boy light up, and he handed over to the blonde a piece of yellowed paper that had details scribbled over in Russian. The blonde started to read over the important bits, which took him only under a minute. Once done, he looked at Midoriya's expectant face, looking pleased with himself. "So, I'm a mercenary that was a former.. Hansa guard?" Bakugou stated the last part a little strained, but Midoriya nodded fervorously, not noticing. "Yep!"

 _Fucking Hansa guard! There's truth in that but fuck this! But it's believable so fine!_

Bakugou grunted and examined the paper again, remembering that apart from all of the info Midoriya placed in it, he forgot to put one important detail. "Where the hell am I gonna live here?" with that question, Midoriya turned nervous and he fidgeted with his fingers. "O-oh! Um.. well.. there's no available living space here so.. y-you can stay here with me!" Midoriya said the last part with a higher-than-usual voice, prompting Bakugou to get a bit suspicious. "You don't have a fucking ulterior motive now, do you?"

Midoriya squeaked. "N-no! Not at all!" it was a very unconvincing lie; there's actually an available flat at Arbatskaya, but the curly haired boy knew that the blonde looked very familiar, and on knowing that he used to live in Teatralnaya before as kids, where he used to live as a kid also, that he used to get called "Kacchan" by someone, which he remembered doing lot in his childhood.. he was very certain, but not fully confirmed on his theory. He wanted Bakugou close by, perhaps to get to know the somewhat volatile blonde bandit, and to confirm his theories.

 _Is Bakugou Katsuki.. Kacchan?_

Bakugou, being tired, dropped the subject, and layed down on the mattress, wanting to sleep, and hopefully he won't be getting anymore nightmares. "Fine. This room is enough for two, hell even three, maybe." the blonde patted the other side of the mattress while looking at Midoriya, face ever so serious. "You're not sleeping on the floor, and I definitely want a tour of your shitty station later, so sleep. Now." Midoriya smiled meekly in response, and lightly shook his head. "Tch. What? Fucking scared?" the blonde teased, making the other pout at him. When Bakugou looked at him sternly, yet not glaring, Midoriya sighed in defeat, and went to lie down beside the blonde. "Okay. You win."

Bakugou felt the other's body heat due to their proximity, so he turned to his side to face away from Midoriya, with the latter still nervous of their closeness, to which the curly haired boy flushed a little at.

 _I did not think this part through, hehe.._

Midoriya remained lying on his back, and he glanced at the blonde's rather toned, clothed back, thinking that he had to be strong to survive all that. Bakugou remained still on his side, staring at the wall of post cards on his side, thinking that Midoriya has some attachment to the prewar world; most of them were post cards from Japan, a place he and the other only knew from the stories the older Japanese folk used to tell them. The two held three things in common; they knew barely about Japan, their parents, and their childhood.

Midoriya continued to observe the blonde, who appeared stiff now. Sighing, he slowly closed his eyes. "Good night, Kacchan."

The curly haired boy was replied with a growl from the seemingly asleep blonde. "How would you know it's nighttime, idiot? And didn't I tell you to stop calling me.. that?" the blonde replied gruffly, startling Midoriya a little and opening his eyes. "It's just a saying before people go to sleep, y'know? And I.. can't help it. Kacchan sounds very.. nice. It fits you."

"First that little shit in my nightmares, now you? Fucking Japanese naming conventions.." Bakugou groaned in annoyance, and a high pitched sound came from Midoriya. "S-sorry! I'll try to stop!" From the back of his mind, the blonde started comparing the voices, and can't help but think they sound somewhat similar, as if the one in his nightmare was the younger version, and Midoriya's the older one.

 _Kacchan! Kacchan!_

Bakugou sighed hoarsely. "Just keep it to a fucking minimum, alright? I better not hear 'Kacchan' in every single sentence you say." Midoriya hummed in approval loud enough for Bakugou to hear, so the latter sagged in his part of the mattress, wanting to sleep already.

"Sleep well.. Kacchan."

"Tch, whatever.. you too."

The silence that followed allowed them to sleep.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! What do you think will happen next?**


	7. The Residents of Red Square

**Once a partially completed draft, now done.**

* * *

The trio walked along the avenue-turned-river of what used to be Vodvizhenka Street. Currently, they're at a far-off distance from the station entrance, and they had to cross mounds of snow and jump across the rivers so far. Red Square wasn't in sight yet, but it's actually just across, though due to the change of the city's topography they have to journey further. "Just a few more city blocks and we'll get across to Red Square!" Kirishima stated as he tried to remove something that's blocking their path. Bakugou huffed at this efforts and brushed past him. "Idiot. You're taking too long. I'm doing this." And his palms sparked, alarming both Midoriya and Kirishima.

As Bakugou's sparks built up, Kirishima tried to coax him out of it, but the blonde's sparks only stopped when Midoriya grabbed Bakugou's wrist, and staring at him. "You might alert any bandits or mutants nearby. Please think, Kacchan." and he looked at the blonde with doe-like eyes.

Bakugou tugged his hand away from Midoriya with a "tch" but he backed off, and grunted. Kirishima went back to removing the obstruction after that, still amazed at Midoriya's "quirk". Eventually, when the other two helped, they got through the obstruction. Then Midoriya's watch beeped while they walked along a sidewalk. "Oh, time to switch filters." And he checked his pockets for some spare filters. He found some filters in his backpack, but they turned out to be the ones from his previous trip that he forget to give back to Tetsutetsu for recycling; they're used.

 _I completely forgot to change these! I must've forgotten when I was taking Kacchan to the infirmary! Oh no, that means I won't be able to breath much longer! I gotta go back to the station but it's way too far now-_

"Oi, freckle face. The fuck is wrong with you?"

Midoriya turned out to be mumbling to himself again, and when he snapped out of it, Bakugou's arm was outstretched to him, a filter in hand. The curly haired boy blinked twice, and it served to irritate Bakugou a bit more. "Fucking take it already or I'm shoving it to your face." Midoriya just stared at the filter, unsure if he should take it.

 _But Kacchan doesn't like charities! I'm sure the same goes the other way around too-!_

Then Bakugou got impatient enough to go and unscrew Midoriya's used filter out, shoving it in his backpack, and putting the new one in the slot. "You're of no use to anyone as a shitty radioactive corpse. You owe me." And Bakugou flicked the fibreglass of Midoriya's gasmask as he finished, making the other blink at him.

After a few more blinks, Kirishima and Bakugou were waiting on him, and the redhead was teasing the blonde for being so kind for once, making said blonde irritated. "As much as I love teasing Blasty here, we gotta go, Midoriya! Nighttime waits for no one!" the ranger directed to Midoriya while he still grinned at Bakugou. At that, Midoriya laughed awkardly and walked past Bakugou and followed Kirishima.

* * *

After a few city blocks, they come across Aleksandrovsky Sad, or Aleksander Gardens, in all of it's overgrown and frosted-over glory; the sun was still up, the rays of light reflecting over the frost. The group kept on going for the gardens. Once at the gate for Aleksandrovsky sad, Kirishima climbed up and over the black iron fence first, then once he's on the other side, he opened the gate, which squealed a bit thanks to rust. Midoriya went through the gate first, then Bakugou, who closed it back shut just in case.

The trio trekked along what remains of a concrete path, being careful not to slip and slide on its frosty surface; Midoriya almost slipped once, so he took hold on Bakugou's shoulders for support. As they walked, Midoriya was in awe. "I have never seen so many plants in my life! They're frozen, but still plants!" Midoriya looked at a bunch of overgrown bushes and weeds, and at some trees with bioluminiscent spores on them. "Shut it, freckles. You want mutants to crawl up on our asses?" Bakugou chided him, still supporting the curly haired boy. "It just looks so amazing, Kacchan.."

Then the group come across an overgrown tunnel, with what appeared to be a bunch of hanging vines. Kirishima had stopped in front of them, but it took the ranger's hand on Midoriya's shoulder to keep him from going closer. "Those things kill, y'know? They're called Liana or eh.. stabby-stabby branch vine thingys."

Bakugou pushed through them, annoyed at them for taking their time. "How about you leave these stabby-fucking-fuckers to me, eh?" and the blonde walked into the tunnel, and just as a Liana curled up to stab him, he grabbed the base of the branch, and with a muffled explosion, he tore the vine clear off its base, and he used the severed vine to stab one of two side-by-side vines then blowing off the other vine off its base; with the last Liana at the end of the tunnel, he just tugged at it violently and tossed it over to the frozen lake. "Clear. Now get fucking moving." the blonde proceeded to walk out of the tunnel, scouting the route ahead.

Kirishima is impressed, the grin in his face saying so. Meanwhile, Midoriya isn't just impressed, he's awestruck by the blonde's performance.

 _Kacchan's so quick! So cool! Powerful too! Like All Might!_

And by the time he's done fanboying, Kirishima's already at the other end. "C'mon Midoriya! There are bears here, y'know?" the ranger said with a laugh.

Midoriya quickly ran across the dirt tunnel.

* * *

The sky already happened to be turning a faint color of orange, signalling to the group that they have to head to the ranger outpost immediately; by now, they're close to exiting the gardens, as stated by Kirishima. "The outpost is in the museum, just across the shopping mall and this fence. C'mon guys, we gotta pick up the pace!" the ranger was currently looking for an opening somewhere in the fence since using their quirks here can attract mutants or crazy bandits. Eventually, he found an army truck that had rammed the fence, and he figured they can use the truck to climb over, which they did. Once Kirishima's up, he helped Midoriya up first, then the two with Bakugou. After carefully traversing the canvas cover of the truck on its back, they're on the other side, seeing the broken glass dome of what used to be the underground Okhotny Ryad shopping mall.

Apart from the dome, they were greeted with a view of what remains of Red Square's towering walls, the towers themselves that acted as the hubs, and Red Square itself, though their target, the Kremlin, isn't in view. All of the buildings and walls are in red brick, coated in frost and white snow, something that the usual metro dweller would have never seen before; Midoriya's the usual metro dweller, so he's awestruck. "C'mon, we gotta get to the museum. It's that fancy looking building there." he points to a red brick building with boarded-up windows, two towers and a destroyed statue in front of it. "Oh and uh.. let's stick close to each other, alright? In case we disturb _them_." Kirishima suddenly warned, stepping over the concrete pavement carefully.

Midoriya sweated buckets at that. "T-them?" he squeaked. Then Bakugou's hand suddenly clasped at Midoriya's shoulder, and pushed him a little to keep on going forward. "Weren't you paying attention earlier? _Them._ Fucking ghosts." the curly haired boy stopped dead in his tracks when Bakugou said ghosts, making the blonde shove him again to keep on moving. "Stay close to shitty hair, idiot. You want _them_ to grab you?" he threatened. "T-they can grab you?!" Midoriya turned around swiftly to face Bakugou with a panicked expression, then he tripped on a fallen lamp post, falling on his side. There, he saw into the shopping mall, which had a bunch of shadowy silhouettes of human figures being displayed in various places and grotesque positions around the mall, only being visible thanks to the sunlight making the shadows form. But Midoriya didn't see anyone, or anything else around them.

 _But.. where are they? I don't see their bodies anywhere?_

 _.._

 _The.. ghosts?_

Then he started hearing light echoes of human voices, which increased in intensity as he focused his sight on a particular silhouette of a family. The echoes increased until what they're saying became audible to Midoriya.

 _Pomogiii naaaam!_

 _.._

 _Hhhelp uss!_

An ear piercing scream suddenly filled Midoriya's eardrums, then Bakugou suddenly yanked up Midoriya by his arm, dragging him along the concrete pavemnt towards Kirishima, who had stopped to check on them. "Aw dammit! They felt us! C'mon, let's get to the safehouse ASAP before this gets any worse!"

And so they rushed towards the museum, ignoring the faint echoes and screams of the undead as much as they could. Once at the wooden doors of the building, Kirishima opened them up effortlessly, and once inside, the ranger carefully closed the door after them, and the echoes in their ears stopped. Catching a breather, the group looked around their immediate surroundings; the building itself is very grandiose, and there are pedestals everywhere, along with rotted paintings of Imperial Russian families and tsars of old. "This used to be a museum of all things Imperial Russian. What used to be here are either looted or decayed already. People loved the gold stuff though, especially the electricians and smithys." Kirishima then took his gas mask off, alarming Midoriya. "Don't worry, the place is alright, we cleaned it. Just put your mask back on when we go back out tomorrow." the ranger reassured them, prompting Bakugou to take his own gasmask off, while Midoriya still had trouble taking his own gasmask out, making the blonde help him in taking it off.

The ranger found the scene rather endearing, especially since the blonde is a normally volatile bandit with the patience of a grenade fuse.

* * *

Hours later, the sun sets, turning the sky a dark blue, and the room the trio are set up in are now only illuminated by a bunch of gas lamps. Currently, Bakugou and Kirishima were sitting on couches opposite of each other, while Midoriya was looking at the little library for stuff to take his mind off things, like earlier's events.

"I'm surprised nothing's attacking us yet, with all these fucking lamps. Hell, why are there no ghosts in here?" Bakugou stated matter-of-factly, eyeing Kirishima for answers. "Ah, a fellow ranger used his illusion quirk here. To other people, it'll look like a burnt up building. Awesome, right? As for the ghosts.. I dunno.. maybe same reason?" the ranger did a thumbs up to Bakugou along with his grin. Bakugou responded with a bored groan, and so Kirishima went back to sitting idly at his couch, until he felt like bothering Bakugou again.

The time to bother Bakugou again would be minutes later, when the blonde had enough sitting down and is now standing up, warming his hands. "Hey dude, have you ever seen your name in Japanese? I mean, in the character thingy?" Kirishima started minutes later, getting bored. Bakugou grunted in response while warming his hands close to a lamp. "Never cared." he replied curtly. Kirishima then lit up, going to his backpack just beside his couch and looking around it until he found what looked like a little book with Japanese Kanji and an arrow pointing to Russian Cyrillic on the cover. "I bought this from a merchant for fifty bullets. With this, we can see how our names would look like!" he beamed, showing the book to Bakugou, who looked at it with vague interest. "Wasting money on something like that. Ridiculous." his response made Kirishima pout. "Aww c'mon. Ever heard of sentimentality? I'd like to know more about my roots too." the ranger says, opening the book and reading its contents. Bakugou let the ranger be and continued warming his hands, it was his lost money after all.

After ten minutes, Kirishima suddenly pipes up. "Hey Bakubro! Take a look here!" the ranger then went up to Bakugou's side, showing to him a piece of paper with pencil marks on it with what seemed to be Japanese characters.

緑谷出久

爆豪勝己

切島鋭児郎

"This writing system is so complex dude! And people actually wrote like this! It's awesome, right?" Kirishima stated while pointing at the Kanji in awe. Bakugou looked at it to feign interest, but Izuku's Kanji caught his eye, looking very familiar.

出久

"That's 'Izuku' in Japanese?" The blonde asked the redheaded ranger, pointing at Izuku's Kanji. The ranger nodded once, smiling. "Yep! Though Midoriya told me once that it can mean another thing too.. I just can't remember what. I think it was some bad nickname?" Kirishima groaned and rubbed at this temples. Bakugou took in Kirishima's information, and scrutinized the Kanji lettering. He remembers seeing them in his memories too, when he and the smiley boy would do Japanese calligraphy on junk paper in Teatralnaya.

 _出久_ _.._

 _Дэку.._

 _Deku._

 _You're a Deku! It's in your name!_

"Deku.." Kirishima turned to look at Bakugou, bewildered. "What?" he asked, blinking. "Deku." Bakugou parroted, turning his head to face Kirishima, who was still confused.

 _You're useless! Bespolezniy, as the Russians say!_

"It means 'useless'."

It was here that Bakugou realized that the smiling boy in his faded memories, was none other than his curly haired contractor, Izuku Midoriya. The images of the little boy in his memories assembled itself with the foggy outline in his head, along with Midoriya's images. Like puzzle pieces, he put them together;

 _Curly, green hair._

 _Big, green eyes._

 _Freckles._

 _Teatralnaya childhood._

 _.._

 _Kacchan?_

Yet he can't jump to conclusions. Not with just this anyway.

And while thinking that, said contractor had just returned from the little room of books, a pile on his hands, and he had noticed the tension in the air, asking Bakugou what's wrong. "..chan? Kacchan? Did.. something happen?" he fidgets with his fingers nervously, looking at Kirishima, who shrugged, so he looked back at the blonde.

Then Bakugou turned to face Midoriya, slightly putting the latter in a state of unease with his piercing gaze;

"Deku..?"

* * *

 **Now I will be updating my other fics first before updating this again.**


End file.
